As part of preparations for the 2027 general elections, the Independent National Electoral Commission, INEC, has unveiled plans to strengthen its communication strategy and improve voter confidence.
The commission also projected that Nigeria’s voter register would exceed 100 million when the recently concluded nationwide Continuous Voter Registration, CVR, is fully processed.
INEC National Commissioner and Chairman of the Information and Voter Education Committee, IVEC, Mallam Mohammed Haruna, disclosed this on Tuesday in Abuja at the commission’s Joint Implementation Meeting of the Departments of Voter Education and Publicity, VEP, and Gender and Inclusivity, G&I, for the 2027 general elections.
Haruna said the previous voter register stood at more than 93 million and was expected to cross the 100-million mark following the conclusion of the latest CVR exercise, potentially making Nigeria the largest electoral democracy in Africa.
With 151 days to the first phase of the 2027 elections, he charged INEC information officers to deploy effective and timely communication strategies capable of reaching all eligible voters.
“Our job is to give the widest and most effective publicity to all five sets of elections to mobilise all Nigerians of voting age to choose their leaders. This job is at once simple and complex,” he said.
Haruna stressed that communicating effectively with more than 100 million voters would require a high level of professionalism, urging information officers to strengthen their communication skills and understanding of the legal framework governing elections.
He said officers must communicate in simple and civil language while demonstrating adequate knowledge of the Constitution, Electoral Act and INEC guidelines, as well as relevant legislation including the Freedom of Information and Data Protection Acts.
He added that the successes recorded in recent off-cycle elections, including the Osun governorship election, has raised the bar for the commission and demanded greater effort towards delivering what he described as the freest and most credible general elections in Nigeria’s history.
Also speaking, the Chief Press Secretary to the INEC Chairman, Mr Adedayo Oketola, said the commission, under Prof. Joash Amupitan, remains committed to conducting credible and inclusive elections and would implement the outcomes of the meeting.
Oketola described the meeting as timely, noting that it would help produce an actionable communication and inclusivity roadmap for the 2027 elections.
He said while technology and operational logistics remained critical to election administration, the VEP and G&I departments constituted the “human face and voice” of INEC.
“You build public trust, simplify complex procedures, and ensure that no eligible citizen is left behind,” he said.
Oketola, however, warned that the communication environment ahead of the 2027 elections would be increasingly threatened by misinformation and disinformation capable of undermining voter confidence and fuelling apathy.
“The antidote to disinformation is proactive, factual, and continuous public engagement,” he said, urging INEC to move beyond traditional announcement-style publicity to sustained civic education.
He said the commission’s messaging must demystify electoral technologies, including the Bimodal Voter Accreditation System, BVAS, and INEC Results Viewing, IReV, while reinforcing public understanding of the integrity of the open secret ballot system.
On inclusivity, Oketola reaffirmed that electoral access for persons with disabilities, women, youths and elderly voters remained a constitutional right.
He said measures such as the deployment of Braille ballot guides and magnifying glasses, prioritisation of vulnerable voters and expanded youth participation through CVR would be critical to setting a new benchmark for electoral access in 2027.
On her part, the Director of VEP, Victoria Eta-Messi, said the commission’s grassroots voter sensitisation and enlightenment efforts depended largely on the capacity and efficiency of VEP heads of department across the states.
She said the implementation meeting would provide clarity, direction and uniformity in the execution of voter education and inclusivity programmes.
“The off-cycle governorship elections are out of the way, and what lies ahead is the 2027 general election, and going by the line of activities of both departments, this meeting takes precedence and sets the tone for what lies ahead,” Eta-Messi said.
She added that the meeting would enable the departments to take participants through approved activities, strategies for implementation, timelines and expectations ahead of the elections.
The meeting was attended by heads of VEP and G&I departments from the 36 states and the Federal Capital Territory.
