The Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) has assured Nigerians that technological safeguards now in place have made ballot box snatching and manual manipulation of election results largely obsolete, expressing confidence in the credibility of the 2027 general elections.
The assurance was given on Wednesday during a courtesy visit by the Director-General of the National Orientation Agency (NOA), Mallam Lanre Issa-Onilu, to the INEC headquarters in Abuja, where both institutions pledged to strengthen collaboration on voter education ahead of the 2027 polls.
Speaking during the meeting, the INEC Chairman said preparations for the elections must begin immediately, noting that the presidential election is scheduled for January 16, 2027, while governorship elections will take place on February 6, 2027.
He stressed that voter apathy and the spread of misinformation remain major threats to Nigeria's electoral process despite improvements in election technology.
"We need to teach them why their vote matters and how our new legal and technological safeguards protect their choices," the chairman said.
"We must look the rural farmer, the marketplace woman, and the disillusioned urban youth in the eye and explain to them, in the language they understand, that because of the current technological infrastructure, the era of snatching ballot boxes or rewriting results manually is gone."
The commission highlighted what it described as major operational successes recorded during the February 21 Federal Capital Territory (FCT) Area Council elections and the June 20 Ekiti State governorship election.
According to INEC, the elections witnessed more than 90 per cent early opening of polling units, effective biometric voter accreditation through the Bimodal Voter Accreditation System (BVAS) and prompt uploading of results to the INEC Result Viewing Portal (IReV).
However, the commission acknowledged that the elections also exposed persistent voter apathy and confusion among many urban voters over polling unit restructuring and voter registration transfers.
"This is a clear indicator that while our technology is moving forward, civic familiarity with the evolving system is lagging," the chairman said.
"It is a loud diagnostic signal that far more needs to be done in the area of intensive, deep-rooted voter education, and it proves that we cannot afford to wait until the eve of the 2027 polls to start talking to our people."
He added that advanced technology alone cannot guarantee credible elections without an informed and engaged electorate.
"We can purchase the finest BVAS machines, optimise the IReV to international standards and improve logistics, but all of these technological and administrative achievements mean nothing if citizens remain detached, cynical or uninformed about the power of their votes," he said.
Describing the National Orientation Agency as Nigeria's foremost civic orientation institution, the commission said both agencies share a constitutional responsibility to educate Nigerians on democratic participation.
INEC called for the development of a decentralised, grassroots voter education campaign that would go beyond informing citizens about election dates to helping them understand the voting process and the importance of electoral participation.
The commission also urged both agencies to collaborate in combating vote-buying, electoral misinformation and disinformation ahead of the 2027 general elections.
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