The Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) has projected that Nigeria’s registered voting population will surpass 100 million ahead of the 2027 general elections.
INEC National Commissioner and Chairman of its Information and Voter Education Committee (IVEC), 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).
The meeting was convened to develop communication and inclusivity roadmap for the 2027 general elections, with a focus on ensuring that the polls are free, fair, credible, peaceful and inclusive.
Haruna said the previous voters’ register stood at more than 93 million, adding that the figure was expected to exceed 100 million when the recently concluded nationwide Continuous Voter Registration (CVR) exercise was finalised.
He said the projected figure would place Nigeria as the largest electoral democracy in Africa.
With 151 days to the first phase of the 2027 general elections, Haruna charged INEC information officers with ensuring effective and timely publicity capable of mobilising all eligible citizens to participate in the polls.
“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 with more than 100 million voters required high professional standards, urging information officers to strengthen their knowledge of communication, electoral laws and other relevant legislation.
He said officers must communicate in simple and civil language while possessing adequate knowledge of the Constitution, Electoral Law and INEC guidelines.
“We must also be well-informed on other relevant legislation like the Freedom of Information and Data Protection Acts,” he added.
According to him, the progress recorded in recent off-cycle elections, including the Osun governorship election, would require greater effort to deliver 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, reaffirmed the commission’s commitment under Prof. Joash Amupitan to conducting credible and inclusive elections.
Oketola described the joint implementation meeting as timely and critical to developing an actionable communication and inclusivity roadmap for the 2027 polls.
He said while technological infrastructure and operational logistics remained the backbone of electoral administration, the VEP and G&I departments constituted the “human face and voice” of the commission.
“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 challenged 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.
He urged INEC’s communication teams to move beyond traditional announcement-based publicity to sustained civic education that would explain the commission’s electoral technologies, including the Bimodal Voter Accreditation System (BVAS) and INEC Results Viewing (IReV).
He said such engagement would also help reinforce public understanding of the integrity of the open secret ballot system.
On gender and inclusivity, Oketola said electoral access for persons with disabilities, women, youths and elderly citizens remained a constitutional right.
He cited measures including the deployment of Braille ballot guides and magnifying glasses, prioritisation of vulnerable voters in queues and increased youth participation through CVR as initiatives that should help make the 2027 elections a benchmark for electoral access in Nigeria.
Earlier, the Director of Voter Education and Publicity, GVictoria Eta-Messi, said INEC’s grassroots voter sensitisation and enlightenment efforts depended largely on the capacity and effectiveness of VEP heads across the states.
She said the implementation meeting was designed to provide clarity, direction and uniformity in the execution of the commission’s voter education 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 review commission-approved activities, identify implementation strategies and ensure that timelines and expectations were clearly understood.
The meeting was attended by heads of the VEP and G&I departments from the 36 states and the Federal Capital Territory.
