The Independent National Electoral Commission has entered into a partnership with the National Identity Management Commission to strengthen the credibility of Nigeria’s voter register and improve transparency ahead of the 2027 general election.
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INEC Chairman, Prof. Joash Amupitan, disclosed this when he received the Director-General and Chief Executive Officer of NIMC, Abisoye Coker-Odusote, and her management team in Abuja.
Amupitan said the newly signed NIMC Act 2026 provides the foundation for a new electoral system built on verified identity, stronger data integrity and improved digital trust.
According to him, with NIMC’s database now covering more than 136 million enrolled Nigerians, deeper integration between both commissions will help INEC continuously audit, verify and clean up the voter register.
He said the collaboration would assist the commission in detecting and removing duplicate entries, underage registrants and records of deceased persons still appearing on the register.
The INEC Chairman revealed that some entries belonging to Nigerians who died as far back as 2011 still remain on INEC’s records.
He added that the commission looks forward to using NIMC’s data architecture to progressively clean up the register.
Amupitan also said INEC’s newly introduced online voter registration platform is deliberately anchored on the National Identification Number as a verification protocol.
He described the use of NIN in the Continuous Voter Registration process as a critical step towards a more seamless and credible voter registration system.
“Voter identity can easily be stolen, easily be impersonated, and easily be duplicated,” he said, noting that the new legal and technological framework would make such infractions easier to detect and address.
He said a credible and properly quantified voter register would also reduce the cost of conducting elections.
According to him, INEC currently has to print election materials based on more than 100 million entries in its register in order to accommodate discrepancies.
He said once the register becomes more accurate, election planning, logistics and material production would become more efficient.
Amupitan disclosed that a comprehensive quantification exercise is planned after the general election.
He also stated that, pursuant to Section 18 of the Electoral Act, INEC has made provision for citizens whose Permanent Voter Cards have been defaced, destroyed or rendered illegible to obtain replacements.
He said this includes printable PVCs for cases reported at least 90 days before an election, to ensure that no eligible voter is disenfranchised.
The INEC Chairman also raised concerns about the emerging role of artificial intelligence in electoral operations.
He described AI as powerful but said it must be guided by deliberate controls and protocols to safeguard the efficiency, integrity and credibility of electoral data systems.
Amupitan said technical teams from INEC and NIMC had already begun engagements on areas of collaboration, adding that INEC’s team was ready to work faster and maximise outcomes ahead of the 2027 polls.
He described the partnership as a “digital trust network” capable of strengthening public confidence not only in Nigeria’s identity system but also in the work of the electoral commission.
He commended NIMC’s leadership for what he called the “ruggedness” of effort that led to the passage of the NIMC Act 2026.
Earlier, Coker-Odusote told INEC’s leadership that the NIMC Act 2026 was signed into law by President Bola Tinubu on June 26, 2026, after nearly two decades of legislative reform.
She said the new Act repositions NIMC as the root authority for Nigeria’s Public Key Infrastructure and formally places the commission at the centre of the country’s digital public infrastructure.
Coker-Odusote said identity remains the foundation of effective governance and credible election planning.
She pledged NIMC’s full support to INEC in delivering a fair, credible and transparent 2027 general election.
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