INEC to Test E-Transmission, Accreditation Nationwide on November 28

The Independent National Electoral Commission has fixed November 28, 2026, for a nationwide mock accreditation and voting exercise ahead of the 2027 general elections to test upgrades to its Bimodal Voter Accreditation System and electronic results transmission.

The announcement was made by the commission’s Chairman, Professor Joash Amupitan, on Thursday during a dialogue at Chatham House in London, organised in partnership with the Kimpact Development Initiative, ValidViewNetwork reports.

THE EXERCISE

Amupitan said the exercise would simulate the presidential election and enable the commission to assess the effectiveness of its accreditation and electronic transmission systems before the polls .

“On the 28th of this month, we will conduct a mock accreditation and voting exercise 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 SAFEGUARDS

The INEC chairman disclosed that the commission had introduced technical safeguards to prevent inaccurate polling unit results and figures reflecting over-voting from being uploaded to its Result Viewing Portal.

A post-2023 audit, he said, identified collation centres, rather than polling units, as the major source of election result management problems.

“We found that the core problem of election result management and declaration in Nigeria is not even at the polling unit—it is at the collation centres. We have now devised a technical safeguard: if a result is not accurate at the polling unit, it will not go to IReV at all,” he said.

THE BVAS UPGRADE

On concerns over the malfunctioning of BVAS during the 2023 general elections, Amupitan said INEC was constructing climate-controlled storage facilities across the states to protect the devices from extreme temperatures .

He added that the commission had procured additional BVAS machines and reduced the maximum number of registered voters assigned to each device from 1,250 to 850.

Polling units with more than 850 registered voters would be provided with multiple devices.

THE TRUST DEFICIT

Amupitan acknowledged that the controversies surrounding the 2023 presidential election had significantly damaged public confidence in the electoral commission.

“First and foremost, let me speak about what happened in 2023, which resulted in a significant trust deficit for INEC—damage so large that the Commission has not yet fully recovered from it,” he said .

However, he cited the recent governorship elections in Anambra and Osun, the FCT Area Council elections, the Ekiti governorship poll and 16 legislative by-elections as opportunities through which the commission had identified and addressed operational weaknesses .

He said the results of the Anambra and Osun governorship elections were declared the day after voting, compared with the prolonged process that characterised previous elections in the states.

“Every election is a lesson. The 2023 general election was a major lesson for Nigeria, and the Anambra election was another,” he said.

THE ANALYTICAL LENS

The November 28 mock exercise is a critical test for INEC. The commission has spent the last three years rebuilding its systems and its reputation after the 2023 election, which was widely criticised for logistical failures, BVAS malfunctions, and the slow upload of results to IReV.

The mock exercise is a chance to prove that the upgrades work. It is also a chance to restore public confidence ahead of the 2027 general elections.

But the trust deficit is deep.

Amupitan himself acknowledged that the damage from 2023 has not been fully repaired. The mock exercise will not solve that on its own. It will take a credible, transparent, and well-run election in 2027 to restore confidence.

The BVAS upgrades, the climate-controlled storage, the reduced voter-to-device ratio, and the new safeguards against inaccurate uploads are all steps in the right direction.

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But the ultimate test is not the technology. It is the integrity of the people who operate it.

The mock exercise is scheduled. The systems have been upgraded. And Nigerians will be watching on November 28. ValidViewNetwork reports.