FIC Report (Oyo State) – The Oyo State office of the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) has adopted a mobile registration of voters in the state in order to capture more eligible voters, as the country gears up for the 2027 General Elections.
This was made known this week in Ibadan by the Commission’s Resident Electoral Commissioner(REC) for Oyo State, Professor Adeniran Tella.
Professor Tella, who briefed journalists at his office on Tuesday, said that the commission decided to introduce a rotational deployment strategy for its Voter Enrolment Devices (IVEDs) across Oyo State, in a move to tackle accessibility challenges experienced during the first phase of the Continuous Voter Registration (CVR) exercise.
According to him, the commission has created a 50-day rotational schedule that will see IVED machines moved across all 351 Registration Areas (RAs) in the state to ensure that eligible voters, especially those in remote communities, are not left out.
Professor Tella explained that the strategy became necessary after feedback from the initial phase of the CVR showed that many prospective registrants were unable to access registration centres due to distance and other logistical challenges.
He said that within the first three days of the second phase of the exercise, which commenced on Monday, January 5, 2026, no fewer than 551 persons had already been registered.
“From our review of the first phase, it was clear that accessibility remained a major concern,” the REC said. “To address this, the commission is implementing a statewide rotational movement of the INEC Voter Enrolment Device across all 351 registration areas in Oyo State.”
Professor Tella noted that the movement of the machines will begin on Monday, February 9, 2026, and will run from 9:00 a.m. to 3:00 p.m. daily, excluding weekends and public holidays.
He added that voter registration would continue simultaneously at the INEC state office and all 33 local government offices while the rotational exercise is ongoing at the registration area level.
In addition to the deployment of the IVED machines, the REC said INEC would hold stakeholders’ meetings across the state to ensure smooth implementation of the exercise.
The meetings, he explained, would involve representatives of political parties, security agencies, civil society organisations, traditional and religious leaders, youth groups, market associations and persons living with disabilities.
According to the Resident Electoral Commissioner, the engagement is intended to enhance information dissemination, ensure adequate security, and facilitate the deployment of materials to designated registration venues.
Professor Tella also disclosed that the schedule for the rotational movement would be uploaded on the INEC website to enable prospective registrants easily locate registration points in their areas.
The REC reiterated that the initiative is designed to bring voter registration closer to citizens, particularly those in rural and underserved communities, as well as Nigerians who recently turned 18.
The exercise, he said, also covers persons seeking replacement of lost, damaged or defaced Permanent Voter Cards (PVCs), those who wish to transfer their registration, and voters yet to collect their PVCs.
Professor Adeniran Tella noted that INEC still has a significant number of uncollected PVCs across its 33 local government offices in the state and urged affected voters to visit the offices where they initially registered to retrieve them.
Signed
Blessing Oluwadamilola Ajayi
(Miss Ajayi is a Corp member serving at FIC, Ibadan).
Edited by Moses Oyelade,
AD(I&PR), FIC, Ibadan.
