The 2027 general elections are no longer far away. The presidential and National Assembly elections hold on Saturday 16 January 2027, and the governorship and State Houses of Assembly elections follow on Saturday 6 February 2027. Between now and then, the difference between voting and watching other people vote is one small laminated card. Collection of the newly issued Permanent Voter Cards is already open. Here is how to make sure yours counts.
1. Know the dates first
Presidential and National Assembly elections: Saturday 16 January 2027. Governorship and State Houses of Assembly elections: Saturday 6 February 2027. Put both in your calendar now, because everything else in this list is working backwards from those two Saturdays.
2. Collection is already open
Nationwide collection of the newly issued PVCs began on Friday 9 October 2026. The cards are available at designated Local Government Area collection centres. This is not a future exercise. If you registered during the recent Continuous Voter Registration, your card may already be waiting for you.
3. Check whether your card is ready before you go
INEC says registered voters can check the status of their PVC and locate their designated collection centre through its official portal. Check first, travel second. Nobody wants to queue for a card that is not at that centre yet.
4. Go to the right centre
Your card is at your designated LGA collection centre, not at any INEC office you happen to pass. Confirm the centre when you check your status, and go there. A wasted trip is the easiest way to give up on the whole thing.
5. Bring your slip if you still have it
Bring the registration slip or temporary voter’s card you were given when you registered, if you still have it. It makes the whole process faster, and it settles any argument about who you are before it starts.
6. Check the card before you leave the centre
Look at it on the spot. Is your name spelt right? Is it your photo? Is the polling unit the one you expect? The public display of the preliminary register ran from 9 to 15 October for claims and objections, and that window has now closed, so if you spot an error now, raise it at your LGA INEC office rather than discovering it on election day.
7. Know your polling unit before election day
Do not discover your polling unit on the morning of 16 January. Confirm it while you are collecting your card, and know how to get there. Election day is not the day for surprises.
8. Keep the card safe, because it is your only way in
No PVC, no vote. That is the whole rule. INEC has introduced printable PVC technology, which it says makes replacement easier when cards are lost or stolen, but do not test that claim. Keep the card where you keep the things you cannot afford to lose.
9. Do not pay anybody for it
PVC collection is free. Anyone asking you to pay for your card, pay to “fast-track” it, or pay to reserve it is running a scam. Walk away and report them.
10. Tell somebody who still thinks it is too late
More than 10.6 million new voters registered across the three phases of the Continuous Voter Registration exercise, which ran from August 2025 to July 2026, and the national register now holds more than 103 million voters. If someone around you registered and has not collected their card, they are part of that number, and their card is part of this collection exercise. Send them this list.
Your vote is not a wish. It is a card, a centre, and two Saturdays. Sort the card now, while there is still time to fix anything that is wrong.
Photo: INEC / Federal Ministry of Information.
