The Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) is set to test its electoral technology nationwide in November as part of efforts to prevent technical problems during the 2027 general elections.
The commission will conduct a mock accreditation exercise to test the Bimodal Voter Accreditation System (BVAS) and other election equipment before the polls.
INEC Chairman, Joash Amupitan, announced the plan on Friday when a delegation from the Canadian High Commission, led by Chargé d’Affaires David Sproule, visited the commission’s headquarters in Abuja.
Amupitan said the exercise would allow INEC to identify and address operational challenges ahead of the elections.
He listed the mock accreditation as one of five key priorities for the 2027 polls. Others include improving electoral technology, expanding voter participation, strengthening the commission’s capacity and fighting misinformation.
The INEC chairman said the commission would use lessons from recent off-cycle elections to improve its preparations for 2027.
He cited the August 15 Osun governorship election, where he said 3,556 of the 3,763 polling units opened for accreditation and voting by 8:30 a.m.
According to him, the election also recorded strong BVAS performance and smooth uploading of results to the INEC Result Viewing portal.
Beyond technology, Amupitan said INEC was preparing for the large manpower requirement of the 2027 elections, with about 1.4 million ad-hoc personnel expected to be deployed to more than 176,000 polling units.
The commission has also created an Artificial Intelligence Unit to examine how AI can be responsibly used in voter registration, data management and results transmission.
Amupitan said INEC would strengthen safeguards against the misuse of technology and misinformation as it works towards a more credible 2027 electoral process.