By Peter Salami
The Chairman of the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC), Professor Joash Ojo Amupitan (SAN), has told Nigerians that while the Commission has deployed cutting-edge technologies such as the Bimodal Voter Accreditation System (BVAS) and the INEC Result Viewing Portal (IReV) to safeguard elections, the ultimate strength of Nigeria’s democracy still lies in the willingness of citizens to vote.
Amupitan made the assertion on Wednesday in Abuja while receiving the Director-General of the National Orientation Agency (NOA), Mallam Lanre Issa-Onilu, during a courtesy visit to INEC headquarters, where both agencies agreed to deepen collaboration on voter education ahead of the 2027 general elections.
He stressed that no amount of technological innovation can replace an informed and active electorate, warning that voter apathy remains a greater threat to credible elections than electoral malpractice.
“We can purchase the finest BVAS machines, we can optimise the IReV to international standards, and we can map out the most efficient logistical routes for election materials. But all of these technological and administrative triumphs mean nothing if citizens remain detached, cynical, or completely uneducated about the power of their votes,” Amupitan said.
The INEC chairman noted that although the Commission’s current technological infrastructure has effectively consigned ballot box snatching and manual result manipulation to the past, Nigerians must still turn out in large numbers to make those safeguards meaningful.
“We need to teach Nigerians why their votes matter and how our legal and technological safeguards protect their choices. We must explain to every voter that because of the current technological infrastructure, the era of snatching ballot boxes or rewriting results manually is gone,” he said.
With the presidential election scheduled for January 16, 2027, and governorship elections fixed for February 6, 2027, Amupitan said there was no time to waste in embarking on aggressive nationwide voter education.
He said the successful conduct of the February 21 Federal Capital Territory Area Council elections and the June 20 Ekiti governorship poll demonstrated the effectiveness of BVAS and IReV, with more than 90 per cent of polling units opening early, seamless biometric accreditation, and rapid electronic transmission of results.
However, he observed that the elections also exposed persistent voter apathy and confusion over polling unit reorganisation and voter registration transfers, underscoring the urgent need for sustained civic education.
According to him, technology can only guarantee credible elections when matched by an informed electorate that understands both the value of the vote and the electoral process.
He described the partnership between INEC and the NOA as essential to building public confidence in the electoral system and called for a grassroots campaign against voter apathy, vote-buying, and misinformation.
Earlier, NOA Director-General Lanre Issa-Onilu lamented the low voter turnout despite the large number of registered voters, saying the agency was intensifying community engagement across the country and seeking stronger collaboration with INEC to encourage greater citizen participation in the democratic process.