Polls 2027: INEC launches first real-time election preparedness tracker as voter register approaches 100 million

Polls 2027: INEC launches first real-time election preparedness tracker as voter register approaches 100 million

From our political correspondent

Abuja (Core Reporters) The Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) is set to launch a first-of-its-kind real-time preparedness tracker that will enable the Commission to instantly monitor election preparations in all 36 States and the Federal Capital Territory as the national voter registration approaches the historic 100 million mark ahead of the 2027 general elections.

The Chairman of the Commission, Prof. Joash Amupitan, (SAN), made this known on Monday, September 7, 2026, while declaring open a two-day strategic operational workshop for Administrative Secretaries, held at the Marriott Hotel, Ikeja, Lagos.

Professor Amupitan said the workshop will produce a standardized Excel-based administrative secretary master operational monitoring template linked directly to the Commission’s Election Monitoring and Support Center (EMSC) dashboard and Election Project Plan (EPP).

He noted that the Commission has historically lacked a dedicated and uniform mechanism to monitor the operational tasks of administrative secretaries, describing the new tool as one that can fill this institutional gap.

According to him, once implemented, the tracker will give resident election commissioners, national supervisory commissioners, the Commission secretary and headquarters immediate visibility into material distribution, ad hoc staff training and state-level preparedness, replacing what he called “reactive panic with proactive management”.

The INEC President said the innovation will survive well into the 2027 financial year, serving as a permanent onboarding model for future generations of administrative secretaries.

He linked the initiative to the Commission’s commitment to keeping the voter register clean and PVC collection running smoothly as registration approaches 100 million, describing continuous voter registration as one of the five operational pillars examined during the workshop, along with logistics and materials management, election technology, ad hoc staff optimization and financial compliance.

Professor Amupitan said the monitoring initiative is based on lessons learned from recent off-cycle elections, including the Osun State governorship election, where disciplined logistics and working technology produced a transparent outcome.

He said the Commission is now working to replicate this standard nationally, in the remaining six-month window before the 2027 general elections.

In his remarks, the Resident Electoral Commissioner (REC) for Lagos State, Professor Ayobami Salami, described the workshop as coming at an auspicious time in the Commission’s preparations and commended the European Union, through the European Union Support for Democratic Governance in Nigeria (EU-SDGN), implemented with Development Alternatives Incorporated (DAI), for supporting the exercise.

Also speaking, Commission Secretary Rose Oriaran-Anthony said the workshop will ensure that headquarters and all states operate under the same election blueprint plan, while providing administrative secretaries with up-to-date knowledge of new administrative policies, technologies and procedures ahead of 2027.

He said each state delegation is expected to leave the workshop with a logistics risk register, an ad hoc recruitment and deployment plan and a stakeholder engagement plan for the next three months, along with the new monitoring model.

The seminar, organized under the auspices of the Office of the Secretary of the Commission with the support of DAI-EUSDGN, saw the participation of national commissioners, resident election commissioners, Director General of the Electoral Institute, Head Office Directors and Administrative Secretaries from the 36 States and the Federal Capital Territory.