INEC Reviews Voter Registration Records, Moves To Address PVC Bottlenecks In South-East

INEC Reviews Voter Registration Records, Moves to Address PVC Bottlenecks in South-East The Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) has ordered a review of Continuous Voter Registration (CVR) records in the South-East and directed the removal of obstacles hindering the distribution of Permanent Voter Cards (PVCs) ahead of the 2027 general elections. INEC Chairman, Professor Joash Amupitan, 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 followed concerns over the rate of PVC collection in the region, with the commission seeking to ensure that eligible registered voters are not prevented from participating in the forthcoming elections because of administrative or logistical challenges. Amupitan said the commission’s immediate priority was to examine local registration records and resolve problems affecting PVC distribution. He stressed that every eligible citizen who had registered must be given the opportunity to exercise their constitutional right to vote. The INEC chairman disclosed that Nigeria’s National Register of Voters had exceeded 103 million registered citizens. According to him, the commission recorded a total of 10,772,421 new registrants across three phases of the CVR exercise conducted between August 2025 and July 2026. He said the first phase, which ran from August 25 to December 10, 2025, recorded 2,611,266 registrants. The second phase, conducted between January 5 and April 17, 2026, produced 4,121,835 new registrants, while the third phase, held from May 11 to July 26, 2026, recorded another 3,867,997. Amupitan, however, noted that the figures remained subject to final deduplication and verification through the Automated Biometric Identification System at the commission’s national headquarters. Online Registration, Printable PVCs Introduce The INEC chairman said the commission introduced an online registration portal during the third phase of the exercise to reduce the difficulties associated with distance and access to registration centres. He added that INEC had activated printable PVC technology in line with Section 18(1) of the Electoral Act 2026, a measure intended to speed up access to voter cards and reduce delays in collection. The innovations, he explained, were designed to make the registration and voter-card collection processes more accessible and efficient. The commission is expected to review the implementation of these measures as it addresses the challenges identified in the South-East. Amupitan described the Enugu engagement as the third stop in INEC’s nationwide readiness assessment tour, following similar meetings in Lagos on September 7 and Kaduna on September 28, 2026. He said the visit was intended to strengthen operational preparedness by engaging directly with electoral officials responsible for delivering elections at the grassroots. The chairman emphasised that credible elections depended not only on decisions taken at the national headquarters in Abuja but also on the performance of personnel across local government areas, registration centres and polling units. He reminded officials that the 2027 general election would involve more than 103 million registered voters and 176,846 polling units across the country. Amupitan urged electoral officers to remain committed to their responsibilities, stressing that administrative failures must not deprive eligible citizens of their voting rights. He expressed confidence in the commission’s preparations and pledged that INEC would work to deliver credible elections.