By Kazeem Waris
The Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) has ordered a review of Continuous Voter Registration (CVR) records in the South-East and the removal of bottlenecks delaying the distribution of Permanent Voter Cards (PVCs) ahead of the 2027 general election.
INEC Chairman, Prof. Joash Amupitan, SAN, gave the directive on Tuesday in Enugu during the commission’s South-East Zonal Interactive Meeting with Staff and Readiness Assessment for the 2027 general election.
The move comes as the commission intensifies preparations for the next general election, with Amupitan stressing that eligible Nigerians who have registered must not be denied the opportunity to vote because of administrative lapses or logistical challenges.
According to INEC’s Daily Bulletin, the chairman said the commission’s immediate priority in the zone was to examine its registration records and address obstacles affecting PVC distribution.
“Our primary operational focus in the South-East is to review our local CVR records and dismantle every bottleneck affecting Permanent Voters Card PVC distribution.
“Our objective is uncompromising: no eligible citizen who registered should be disenfranchised by administrative or logistical friction,” he declared.
Amupitan’s directive comes against the backdrop of the commission’s expanding voter register, which he said now contains more than 103 million registered citizens nationwide.
He disclosed that INEC registered 10,772,421 new voters in three phases of the CVR exercise conducted between August 2025 and July 2026, subject to final verification and deduplication by the Automated Biometric Identification System (ABIS) at the commission’s national headquarters.
The first phase, which ran from August 25 to December 10, 2025, recorded 2,611,266 registrants, while the second phase, conducted between January 5 and April 17, 2026, produced 4,121,835 new voters.
The third phase, held from May 11 to July 26, 2026, recorded another 3,867,997 registrants.
To improve access to registration and reduce delays in obtaining voter cards, the commission introduced an online registration portal during the third phase and activated printable PVC technology.
Amupitan said the online portal was designed “to eliminate barriers of distance and time”, while the printable PVC initiative would reduce the prolonged waiting period associated with collecting voter cards.
He said the technology was intended to ensure that “waiting for months to pick up a voter’s card becomes a relic of the past.”
The INEC chairman, who described the Enugu engagement as a critical part of preparations for the 2027 polls, said the commission must move beyond administrative planning at its headquarters to confront operational challenges in the field.
The meeting was the third stop on the commission’s nationwide readiness assessment tour, following engagements in Lagos on September 7 and Kaduna on September 28, 2026.
Amupitan said the visit was particularly significant because, according to him, no INEC chairman had visited the commission’s Enugu office since 1999.
He said previous zonal preparations of such magnitude had largely been coordinated through delegated structures, national commissioners or directorates at the headquarters.
“Today, as we bring our nationwide tour to the South-East, we continue to break that tradition of remote governance,” he said.
Explaining the need for direct engagement with field officials, Amupitan said the credibility of an election depended largely on the effectiveness of operations at the grassroots.
“The true success of any election is not decided solely in the meeting rooms of our headquarters in Abuja. It is decided in the field,” he stated.
He identified the 95 local government areas of the South-East, Registration Area Centres and polling units as critical locations where the commission’s preparations would ultimately be tested.
According to him, the 2027 general election would require coordinated operations across the 36 states and the Federal Capital Territory, involving more than 103 million registered voters and 176,846 polling units.
“The statutory timeline is fixed, and the clock is ticking,” he warned.
The INEC chairman charged staff to take responsibility for ensuring that eligible voters could exercise their franchise, regardless of where they lived.
“To the voter in a rural ward or an urban centre, INEC is not the Chairman in Abuja; INEC is you,” he said.
Amupitan expressed confidence in the commission’s preparedness for the election, pledging that its personnel would work to meet the demands of the nationwide assignment.
“The road to 2027 passes through our hands, and we shall not falter,” he said.
