INEC Links Voter Register to NIN in Push to Clean Up Ahead of 2027
By Aboki Forex —
The Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) has integrated the National Identification Number (NIN) into its voter registration process. The aim is to audit, verify and clean the national voter register before the 2027 general elections.
INEC National Commissioner Prof. Rhoda Gumus disclosed this on Tuesday in Abuja while receiving members of the African Union (AU) Pre-Election Needs Assessment Mission at the Commission's headquarters. She represented the chairman, Joash Amupitan.
What INEC is saying
Gumus said the NIN integration was done through collaboration with the National Identity Management Commission (NIMC) and the continuous voter registration portal.
"Through our strategic collaboration with the NIMC and the implementation of our continuous voter registration portal, we have systematically integrated NIN to audit, verify, and clean our national voter register," she said.
"This is to ensure that Africa's largest democratic identity roll enters the 2027 polls with unassailable integrity."
She reaffirmed INEC's commitment to neutrality, independence and professionalism under chairman Prof. Joash Amupitan, who is currently on an international assignment. Administrative decisions, she said, would follow the law, while technical deployments would serve transparency and ensure the outcome reflected the will of Nigerian voters.
The Commission is preparing to accredit and facilitate voting for a voter population rapidly approaching 100 million across 176,846 polling units.
Recent polls as a test of reforms
Gumus said INEC treated recent off-cycle elections in Anambra, the Federal Capital Territory, Ekiti and Osun as proving grounds for reforms under the Electoral Act 2026.
The Osun election recorded more than 94% early-morning logistical opening rates, alongside what she described as optimal performance by the Bimodal Voter Accreditation System (BVAS), seamless result viewing on the INEC Result Viewing (IReV) portal and disciplined security management.
She still acknowledged the technological, logistical and political challenges of running elections across the country. Electoral integrity, she said, is a multi-stakeholder responsibility, and international technical support remains vital to closing operational gaps.
She listed digital training for ad hoc election personnel, countering election-related disinformation and deepfakes, strengthening the Election Monitoring and Support Centre, and deepening inclusivity and gender-mainstreaming frameworks as areas where AU support would help.
The wider picture
The NIN move follows earlier efforts to tighten the voter register. In April, INEC postponed its proposed nationwide voter revalidation exercise until after the 2027 polls, despite calling the exercise critical to verifying voter records, correcting inaccuracies and removing duplicate or ineligible entries.
In February, the Commission said it planned to expand technology deployment for 2027 while continuously cleaning and updating the National Register of Voters. INEC plans to deploy more than 1.4 million ad hoc personnel for the 2027 elections, up from about 1.2 million in 2023.
Beyond the register, the elections face emerging risks from artificial intelligence and digital misinformation. A July report by SBM Intelligence found that 66.5% of Nigerians are extremely or very concerned that AI-generated political misinformation could undermine the credibility of the 2027 elections. The report said heavy reliance on social media for news, weak content moderation and low levels of information verification leave the electoral environment increasingly vulnerable.
For businesses, a cleaner register and a more predictable election calendar reduce the political risk that usually freezes investment decisions in the months before a general election.