Voter register hits 103m as INEC upgrades BVAS

Over 103 million Nigerians are officially cleared to vote in the upcoming 2027 general elections after the final cleanup of the national voter register.

The Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) confirmed the new figure on Monday. This number includes over 10.7 million fresh registrations from the recent Continuous Voter Registration (CVR) exercise.

Citizens are advised to start collecting their Permanent Voters’ Cards (PVCs) nationwide from Friday, October 9, 2026.

The electoral body has acquired 57,000 brand-new Bimodal Voter Accreditation System (BVAS) machines, to prevent technical glitches and manipulation that have troubled past elections. These devices feature stronger batteries and upgraded software specifically designed to block anyone from bypassing the accreditation process. INEC also plans to use an enhanced electronic system to ensure polling unit results are directly and securely uploaded to the INEC Result Viewing Portal (IReV).

INEC Chairman, Prof. Joash Amupitan, shared these updates during an editors’ workshop in Abuja. He made stated that the commission is taking a zero-tolerance approach to election fraud.

“The integrity of the ballot box is fatally compromised when a citizen’s vote is treated as a commodity for sale,” Amupitan stated.

He warned that anyone caught buying or selling votes will be arrested. The INEC has teamed up with anti-graft agencies like the EFCC and ICPC to deploy undercover financial monitoring teams at polling units to track illegal campaign spending.