The Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) has adopted the recently concluded Osun State governorship election as a working model for its preparations for the 2027 general election.
INEC Chairman, Prof. Joash Amupitan, said the commission will build on what worked in Osun, especially the opening of polling units, the use of the Bimodal Voter Accreditation System (BVAS), the uploading of results to the IReV portal and the handling of election-day problems.
Amupitan said the August 15 Osun poll gave INEC useful lessons for the next general election.
He spoke on Friday when the Chargé d’Affaires of Canada to Nigeria, David Sproule, led a delegation from the Canadian High Commission to INEC headquarters in Abuja.
The chairman said INEC had already tested new ideas in earlier off-cycle elections, including the Anambra governorship poll, the Federal Capital Territory Area Council election and the Ekiti governorship election.
However, he said Osun stood out because of the scale of the improvement recorded.
According to him, 3,556 of the 3,763 polling units in Osun, or 94.5 per cent, opened for accreditation and voting by 8:30 a.m.
He said INEC viewed the result “not as a final destination, but as the gold standard that will guide our preparations for 2027.”
According to another online media, Vanguard, Amupitan said the commission would rely on lessons from the Osun election to guide its 2027 planning.
Technology And Voter Access
Amupitan said INEC’s 2027 preparations now focus on five areas: better technology, wider inclusion, stronger institutional capacity, action against misinformation and protection of electoral integrity.
He said the commission will hold a nationwide mock accreditation exercise in November 2026 to test BVAS and other equipment under real field conditions.
BVAS is the device INEC uses to verify voters’ identities at polling units before voting starts. IReV, the INEC result portal, is the platform used to upload polling unit results.
The INEC chairman also said the commission will need about 1.4 million ad-hoc staff to run the 2027 polls across more than 176,000 polling units. He described that as one of the largest personnel deployments in Nigeria’s election history.
He further said INEC has created an artificial intelligence unit to study how AI can support voter registration, data handling and results transmission while limiting risks such as deepfakes and disinformation.
Canada Visit And Support
Sproule said Canada remains committed to supporting Nigeria’s democratic process ahead of 2027.
He said Canada would continue to help in areas such as voter participation, women’s inclusion, public awareness, technical support and election observation.
Amupitan also said INEC will attend a global conference on responsible AI and elections in Ottawa, Canada, from September 9 to 11, and asked the Canadian High Commission to help speed up visas for the delegation.
The commission’s latest push signals that it wants to use the Osun election as a dress rehearsal for 2027, while also tightening technology, logistics and voter confidence.
WhatsApp Channel
Telegram Channel
