The Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) has fixed November 28, 2026, for a nationwide mock accreditation exercise to test the effectiveness of its voter accreditation and electronic result transmission systems ahead of the 2027 general elections.

INEC Chairman, Joash Amupitan, announced this on Thursday in London during a high-level dialogue organised in partnership with the Kimpact Development Initiative (KDI) at Chatham House. The event was held under the theme, “Nigeria’s 2027 Elections: Democratic Trajectory and Regional Stability Beyond the Ballot”.

Amupitan said the exercise would simulate the presidential election and test the commission’s accreditation and electronic result transmission systems across all states of the federation.

“On the 28th of this month, we will conduct a mock accreditation across all states of the federation to simulate the presidential election and verify that we have gotten both accreditation and electronic result transmission right,” he said.

The INEC chairman, a Senior Advocate of Nigeria (SAN), said the exercise was part of measures to address the technical challenges experienced during the 2023 general elections and strengthen the credibility of the 2027 polls.

He disclosed that the commission had procured additional devices and reduced the maximum number of voters assigned to each Bimodal Voter Accreditation System (BVAS) machine from 1,250 to 850.

According to him, polling units with more than 850 registered voters would be provided with multiple devices to facilitate accreditation.

Amupitan also said INEC was constructing climate-controlled storage facilities in all states to address the malfunctioning of BVAS devices, which had previously been linked to extreme heat and poor storage conditions during the 2023 elections.

On electronic result transmission, he said the commission had introduced technical safeguards to prevent inaccurate results and figures indicating over-voting from being uploaded to its Result Viewing Portal (IReV).

He identified insecurity, logistics, and result management as the commission’s three major priorities ahead of the 2027 elections.

The INEC chairman said a post-2023 audit revealed that the most significant failures in result management occurred at collation centres rather than polling units.

He added that the commission had decided to upgrade its existing electoral technology rather than introduce an entirely new system, citing the limited time available before the 2027 elections.

Amupitan also confirmed that INEC had received a substantial portion of its budget for the 2027 elections but was awaiting the outstanding balance. He said part of the funds would be used to recruit and provide welfare support for ad hoc personnel.

He disclosed that the commission had received assurances that the outstanding funds would be released before the end of November.

The 2027 presidential and National Assembly elections are scheduled for January 16, while the governorship and State Houses of Assembly elections will hold on February 6.