INEC chair orders review of PVC distribution in South-East ahead of 2027
- INEC chairman Prof. Joash Amupitan told South-East officials to clear every hurdle to PVC collection.
- He spoke in Enugu on Tuesday at a readiness meeting for the 2027 general election.
- The national voter register now holds about 103 million names, subject to final checks.
The Chairman of the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC), Prof. Joash Amupitan, has directed the commission's officials in the South-East to review voter registration records and remove every obstacle stopping registered residents from collecting their Permanent Voters Cards (PVCs).
He gave the order on Tuesday in Enugu at an interactive meeting with INEC staff in the zone, held as part of the commission's readiness assessment for the 2027 general election.
Amupitan said the priority in the region is to make sure that anyone who has registered can collect a card and vote without being held back by paperwork or logistics.
"No eligible citizen who registered should be disenfranchised by administrative or logistical friction,"
he said, according to Leadership. Daily Post quoted a similar promise: that no qualified citizen who has registered would be excluded from voting because of administrative or logistical challenges.
For the ordinary voter in the South-East, the message is simple: if you registered, you should be able to get your card and have your say in 2027.
What the numbers show
Amupitan said the National Register of Voters has grown to more than 103 million people after three phases of Continuous Voter Registration (CVR) between August 2025 and July 2026.
- Phase one, 25 August to 10 December 2025: 2,611,266 new registrants.
- Phase two, 5 January to 17 April 2026: 4,121,835.
- Phase three, 11 May to 26 July 2026: 3,867,997.
That adds up to 10,601,098 new registrants, but the figures still have to pass final checks through the commission's Automated Biometric Identification System (ABIS), which weeds out duplicate registrations.
He said INEC introduced an online registration portal during the third phase, the first of its kind in Nigeria, to help people who could not reach a registration centre in person.
The commission has also activated printable PVC technology under Section 18(1) of the Electoral Act 2026. According to Amupitan, this should make the long wait to collect a voter's card a thing of the past.
Why Enugu matters
The Enugu meeting is the third stop on a nationwide readiness tour, after Lagos on 7 September and Kaduna on 28 September 2026.
Amupitan noted that no INEC chairman had visited the commission's Enugu office since 1999, saying the commission is moving away from managing preparations only from Abuja.
He reminded staff that the 2027 elections will involve more than 103 million registered voters, 176,846 polling units and 36 states plus the Federal Capital Territory, and that success will depend on officials at the grassroots, including those working across the 95 local government areas in the South-East.
What happens next: INEC officials in the South-East are expected to go through the registration records and clear the bottlenecks. The final voter register will only be confirmed after the biometric checks are completed.
