The Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) has announced October 9, 2026, as the commencement date for the collection of newly issued Permanent Voter Cards nationwide ahead of the 2027 General Election.
Politics Nigeria reports that the INEC Chairman, Professor Joash O. Amupitan, SAN, disclosed this on Monday in Kaduna during the Commission’s North-West Zonal Interactive Meeting with Staff and Readiness Assessment for the 2027 elections.
Amupitan said the commencement of PVC collection followed the three phases of Continuous Voter Registration conducted by the Commission, which he said produced 10,772,421 new registrations, subject to verification through the Automated Biometric Identification System.
He further directed INEC officials to address operational gaps and eliminate bottlenecks that could prevent eligible Nigerians from collecting their PVCs, particularly at the Local Government Area level.
The INEC chairman said the exercise was part of a six-zone national tour designed to assess the Commission’s preparedness, identify challenges confronting its field operations and develop solutions ahead of the 2027 polls.
He stressed that the credibility of the election would depend largely on the effectiveness of INEC personnel operating 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,” Amupitan said.
He urged staff to use the zonal engagement to identify practical challenges in their respective areas and work with the Commission’s headquarters to resolve them before election day.
The chairman also warned electoral officials against partisan conduct and administrative negligence, saying neutrality and professionalism would be crucial to sustaining public confidence in the electoral process.
According to him, INEC is drawing lessons from recent elections while strengthening its systems for the larger national assignment in 2027.
Amupitan further disclosed that the Commission was refining its technological systems, including voter verification, result transmission and Result Management Systems, with the recently introduced eEC8A among the systems being developed.
He said INEC was also adopting a “Zero-Failure” approach to election logistics, covering the early deployment of materials, transportation, security coordination and training of ad-hoc personnel.
Earlier, the Supervising National Commissioner for Kaduna, Mallam Kudu Haruna, said the zonal meetings were designed to enable the Commission’s leadership to engage directly with personnel across the country despite the limited time remaining before the 2027 elections.
Haruna said the Kaduna engagement commenced with a courtesy visit by Amupitan to the Emir of Zazzau and Chairman of the Kaduna State Council of Traditional Rulers.
He said the visit provided an opportunity for INEC to brief the traditional ruler on preparations for the 2027 elections and seek the support of traditional institutions in mobilising eligible Nigerians to participate in the electoral process.
According to Haruna, the INEC chairman informed the Emir that collection of the newly issued PVCs would commence on October 9 and appealed to traditional rulers to encourage eligible citizens to collect their cards.
The Director of Planning and Monitoring, Helen Ajayi, said the zonal exercise was aimed at assessing the level of preparedness across states and identifying operational challenges requiring attention before the elections.
She added that the meetings would also ensure that INEC personnel remained aligned with the Commission’s Code of Conduct as preparations intensify.
Representatives from the Voter Education and Publicity, Voter Registry, ICT, Human Resources, and Election and Operations departments also presented updates on their respective areas.
