The Chairman, Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC), Prof. Joash Amupitan has directed Resident Electoral Commissioners (RECs) nationwide to intensify voter education and sensitisation ahead of the 2027 general elections.
Amupitan gave the directive on Wednesday in Abuja during a meeting with RECs and meeting with swearing-in of the new REC representing Abia, Dr Chukwu Chukwuemeka Joseph.
He also urged voters across the country to use available INEC platforms to identify their polling units (PUs) ahead of the 2027 elections.
The chairman noted that despite a modest improvement in voter turnout during the recent FCT Area Council elections, voter apathy remained a significant challenge that required “continuous, not episodic” engagement.
“Voter apathy still manifested in the turnout, although with modest improvement in the FCT.
“From 9.4 per cent in 2022, participation rose to approximately 15 per cent in this election, with over 239,000 voters casting ballots, as against 148,685 in 2022.
“There is still considerable work to be done to deepen voter engagement and confidence,’’ he said.
Addressing the public outcry over alleged “voter migration” in the FCT, Amupitan clarified that no voters were migrated in 2026.
He explained that the redistribution of voters’ initiative aimed at expanding access by decongesting 12,000 polling units and creating over 56,000 new ones nationwide, was done in 2022.
Amupitan explained that INEC did not move voters to a new community, saying the new PUs were located only a few metres away from the original ones within the same premises to reduce overcrowding and improve voter experience.
“In order to populate the newly created units, many of which initially had zero registered voters, about 6.7 million voters were redistributed from approximately 12,000 congested polling units to new 17,000 less congested ones across the country in 2022,’’ he said.
“In the FCT alone, 411 polling units were decongested, and about 580,000 voters were redistributed to 1,156 polling units. That exercise was carried out four years ago in 2022, not in 2026.
“The same voters in FCT voted in those polling units during the 2023 general election,’’ he said.
Amupitan recalled that during the mock accreditation on Feb. 7 in the FCT, INEC discovered that a few of the voters complained that their polling units were migrated in 2022 but they had difficulty in locating the new ones.
The INEC chairman also recalled that he immediately directed that fresh text messages and emails be sent to affected FCT voters ahead of the election, especially to voters’ whose polling units were migrated in 2022.
This, according to him, is to serve as a refresher to ensure that everyone willing to vote would locate their polling units with ease, especially for the benefit of those who did not vote in the 2023 general elections.
“The text messages/emails sent contained the Polling Unit Locator at https://cvr.inecnigeria.org/pu, which could help them locate the polling unit with ease.
“In addition, I directed that the voter register be displayed again at least four days in all the affected polling units so that voters could check their names ahead of the election in the FCT,’’ he said.
Amupitan said in spite of widespread publicity, display of the Register of Voters and the deployment of text messages and emails to affected voters in the days preceding the election, some voters still experienced difficulties locating their polling units.
He said that the development indicated that INEC policies might be sound and its intentions might be noble, “if citizens do not understand our processes, then the objective is only half achieved.’
“I therefore direct all RECs to intensify voter education and sensitisation in your respective states. Voter awareness must not be episodic. It must be continuous.
“Citizens must be encouraged to verify their polling unit details well ahead of elections, including through the commission’s online Polling Unit Locator.
“Where necessary, they should physically visit their polling locations before election day.
“We must begin to amplify this critical information now for the benefit of those who did not vote during the general elections in 2023 to locate their polling units ahead of time,’’ he said.
