The Independent National Electoral Commission in Plateau State says it has received virtually all non-sensitive materials required for the 2027 general elections and commenced sorting and batching them for distribution to the 17 local government areas of the state.
The Resident Electoral Commissioner in the state, Professor Samuel Egwu, disclosed this on Friday while briefing journalists at the commission’s headquarters in Jos on its preparations for the 2027 general elections.
“Virtually all the non-sensitive materials required for the 2027 elections have been brought to Plateau State.
“What we have done, as soon as we receive them, is to batch them local government by local government so that they can move without difficulty,” Egwu said.
Egwu said Electoral Officers were central to the successful conduct of the elections, describing them as the pillars of the electoral process at the local government level.
“Electoral Officers are very important because they are the pillars of the elections we conduct. They work at the local government level,” he said.
He added that the commission had commenced various training programmes for different categories of electoral personnel, including Electoral Officers who were not trained during the 2023 general elections.
The REC, however, urged eligible voters in the state to collect their Permanent Voter Cards, saying the commission had two major categories of uncollected cards.
“The first generation were those that were with us before the 2023 general elections, and there are about 95,000 of them.
“Some were collected by their owners during the Continuous Voter Registration exercise, but the number collected is still very small,” he added.
Egwu said the commission had also received PVCs arising from the first phase of the Continuous Voter Registration exercise, which commenced in August 2025 and ended in December 2025.
“The four local governments are Shendam, Langtang North, Jos South and Kanam. Those cards are now with us. We expect residents of these local governments who registered between August and December 2025 to come forward and collect their cards,” he said.
He added that the commission had received about 19,000 cards belonging to voters who applied for transfers, corrected their biodata or requested the reprinting of defaced cards.
“We have received cards for those who sought transfers, those who corrected their biodata and those whose cards were defaced and requested reprinting. All these categories of cards, about 19,000 in number, are available,” he said.
According to him, PVCs from the second phase of the Continuous Voter Registration exercise, which took place between January and April 2026, had also arrived in the state and been distributed to local government areas for collection.
“The good news is that the cards from the second phase of the Continuous Voter Registration, which took place from January to April 2026, are now with us. All these categories of cards have been taken to the local government areas, and our Electoral Officers are issuing them from their respective offices,” he said.
On the outstanding cards, Egwu said the commission was awaiting those produced from the third phase of the Continuous Voter Registration exercise, which ended in July.
“What is outstanding for INEC to make available to us are the cards from the third phase of the Continuous Voter Registration, which ended in July. We are very hopeful that between now and the end of the month, those cards will be available,” he said.
He said the commission would take the cards closer to voters at the ward level once they arrived to make collection easier.
“When those cards are available, the commission has decided that they will move back to the Registration Area levels, to the ward levels, so that people can easily collect their cards,” he said.
Egwu added that the arrangement would commence on December 1, subject to any further directive from the commission.
“This will commence from December 1, subject to any further directive from the commission,” he said.
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