The Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) has fixed November 28, 2026, for a nationwide mock accreditation exercise to test the effectiveness of its accreditation and electronic result transmission systems ahead of the 2027 general elections.
INEC Chairman, Joash Amupitan, announced this on Thursday in London during a high-level dialogue at Chatham House, organised in partnership with the Kimpact Development Initiative (KDI), under the theme, “Nigeria’s 2027 Elections: Democratic Trajectory and Regional Stability Beyond the Ballot.”
Amupitan said that the exercise would simulate the presidential election and test the commission’s accreditation and electronic result transmission systems across all states of the federation.
“On the 28th of this month, we will conduct a mock accreditation across all states of the federation to simulate the presidential election and verify that we have gotten both accreditation and electronic result transmission right,” he said.
The INEC chairman, who is a Senior Advocate of Nigeria, further stated that the exercise was part of measures to address technical challenges experienced during the 2023 general elections and strengthen the credibility of the 2027 polls.
He disclosed that the commission had procured extra devices and reduced the maximum number of voters assigned to each BVAS machine from 1,250 to 850.
According to him, polling units with more than 850 registered voters will be provided with multiple devices.
Amupitan also said INEC was constructing climate-controlled storage facilities in all states to address the malfunction of BVAS devices previously linked to extreme heat and storage conditions during the 2023 elections.
On electronic result transmission, he explained that the commission had introduced technical safeguards to prevent inaccurate results and figures reflecting over-voting from being uploaded to its Result Viewing Portal (IReV).
He identified insecurity, logistics and result management as the commission’s three major priorities ahead of the 2027 elections.
The INEC chairman said a post-2023 audit showed that the most significant failures in result management occurred at collation centres rather than polling units.
He added that the commission had opted to upgrade its existing electoral technology rather than introduce an entirely new system because of the limited time before the 2027 elections.
Amupitan also confirmed that INEC had received a substantial portion of its 2027 election budget but was awaiting the outstanding balance, part of which would fund the recruitment and welfare of ad hoc personnel.
He said the commission had received assurances that the outstanding funds would be released before the end of November.
The 2027 Presidential and National Assembly elections are scheduled for January 16, while the Governorship and State Houses of Assembly elections will be held on February 6.
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