The Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) will begin nationwide collection of Permanent Voter Cards (PVCs) on Friday, October 9, ahead of the 2027 general elections.
INEC Chairman, Prof. Joash Amupitan, announced this on Monday at a strategic workshop for media executives organized by the commission in collaboration with the Nigerian Guild of Editors in Abuja.
The announcement comes as Nigeria’s National Register of Voters has surpassed 103 million following the completion of the three-phase Continuous Voter Registration (CVR) exercise.
Amupitan said the CVR attracted 10,772,421 new registrants across the country. He added that the commission had completed the public display of the preliminary register and the final Automated Biometric Identification System (ABIS) cleanup.
He said newly produced PVCs would be distributed to Local Government Area collection centers for eligible voters to collect.
INEC has also introduced printable PVC technology to reduce delays in obtaining voter cards and make replacement easier for voters who lose their cards.
Amupitan said the commission had acquired 57,000 new Bimodal Voter Accreditation System (BVAS) devices and was upgrading its electoral technology ahead of the 2027 polls.
He said INEC was committed to strengthening the BVAS and INEC Result Viewing Portal (IReV) to improve the transparency and credibility of the electoral process.
The chairman also called for stronger collaboration with the media to tackle misinformation, urging newsrooms to establish digital fact-checking desks and work with INEC to verify election-related information.
He said public trust remained critical to electoral credibility, stressing the need for accurate and timely information as the country approaches the 2027 elections.
INEC has scheduled the presidential and National Assembly elections for January 16, 2027, while governorship and State House of Assembly elections will hold on February 6, 2027.
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