Nigeria’s Voter Register Hits 103m, About 10m More Than 2023 Elections’ 93m
Nigeria’s Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) has announced that the register of voters has inched past 103 million ahead of the 2027 general polls.
The latest voter register figure marks a significant increase from the 93,469,008 registered voters recorded for the 2023 general elections.
INEC Chairman, Professor Joash Amupitan, disclosed the figure on Monday in Abuja while delivering a keynote address at a strategic workshop for media executives organised by the Nigerian Guild of Editors in collaboration with the commission.
According to Amupitan, the increase followed the completion of the three-phase Continuous Voter Registration (CVR) exercise and the final clean-up of the register using the Automated Biometric Identification System (ABIS).
The three phases of the CVR exercise produced a combined 10,772,421 new registrations.
The first phase, conducted between August 25 and December 10, 2025, recorded 2,611,266 registrations. The second phase, held from January 5 to April 17, 2026, produced 4,121,835 registrations, while the third phase, conducted from May 11 to July 26, recorded 3,867,997 registrations.
Amupitan said the newly registered voters were subjected to biometric verification, while the commission also completed the public display of the Preliminary Register to allow citizens to raise claims and objections.
Following the final ABIS clean-up, INEC said the national voter register had moved beyond the 103 million mark.
PVC Collection to Begin October 9
The INEC chairman also announced that nationwide collection of Permanent Voter Cards (PVCs) will commence on Friday, October 9, 2026.
Newly produced PVCs are expected to be distributed to Local Government Area collection centres for eligible voters to collect.
The commission has also introduced printable PVC technology, which it says is designed to reduce the waiting period for voters who need new or replacement cards.
INEC said the technology was introduced in accordance with Section 18(1) of the Electoral Act 2026.
The commission has completed eight of the 14 major statutory activities on its timetable for the 2027 elections, according to Amupitan.
