INEC: Over 1m Nigerians completed voter registration in 12 weeks

The Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) says over one million Nigerians have completed their physical registration in the ongoing nationwide continuous voter registration (CVR).

This is as the first quarter of the voter registration ends on Tuesday.

The physical registration, which began on July 26, provides Nigerians who initiate the registration process online and those who prefer to register in-person, the opportunity to complete the process in the commission’s state and LGA offices nationwide.

According to a statement by Festus Okoye, INEC national commissioner and chairman, information and voter education committee, the number of fresh online pre-registrants is now 3,165,189.

He added that youths between the ages of 18 and 34 constitute the highest number of those who have completed registration.

“Today marks the 12th week and the cumulative figures for the CVR exercise from inception show that the number of fresh online pre-registrants stands at 3,165,189, while 1,457,766 Nigerians applied for voter transfer, replacement of PVCs and update of their voter information records,” the statement reads.

“Completed registrations now stands at 1,081,947 voters. Youths between the ages of 18 and 34 still constitute the majority with 771,770 (71.33%) completed registration. In terms of occupation, students form the largest category with 439,608 (40.63%). On gender distribution, 555,872 (51.38%) are male and 526,075 (48.62%) are female.”

According to the data released by the commission, Osun state is in the lead for online registration with 414,928 registrants, while Anambra leads in the number of completed registrations with 138,795 people.

Okoye said, as provided for in section 19 (1) of the Electoral Act 2010 (as amended), the commission is mandated to publish the register of voters for a period of not less than five days, and not more than 14 days, during which citizens may make claims and objections.

“In compliance with the law, the register of new voters will be displayed in the local government offices of the commission nationwide from 24th – 30th September 2021. The aim is to enable citizens assist the commission by identifying ineligible registrants on the list ahead of the cleaning up of the register before adding the fresh registrants to the current register and the printing of their permanent voters’ cards (PVCs) for future elections,” he said.

“The second quarter of the exercise begins on 4th October 2021 and ends on 20th December 2021. Further details will be announced by the commission before the commencement of the exercise.”