Lagos, Kano, Delta in the lead as INEC registers 11m voters between June 2021 and July 2022

The Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) says over 11 million new applicants have completed their voter registration.

In June 2021, the commission launched a portal where Nigerians can register or request to update their voter information before they complete the process physically at designated centres.

According to data released by the commission, the number of persons who have completed their registration is 11,011,119 as of 7am on July 25.

Of this figure, 3,391,940 started their registration online while 7,619,179 carried out their registration physically.

Lagos state is in the lead for the number of completed registrations with 508,936; followed by Kano with 500,207, and Delta with 481,929.

According to INEC, youths aged between 18 and 35 constitute the highest number of completed registrations with a total of 7,828,570.

INEC had earlier fixed June 30 as the deadline for the ongoing CVR ahead of the 2023 elections.

But a federal high court in Abuja stopped INEC from ending the exercise, following a suit filed against the electoral umpire by Socio-Economic Rights and Accountability Project (SERAP) and 185 persons.

The commission then extended the voter registration by two more weeks — to end July 31.

The electoral umpire said the exercise has also been extended to eight hours daily — from 9am to 5pm — instead of the current duration of six hours daily.

Festus Okoye, INEC commissioner for information and voter education, said the exercise will now include weekends as against only weekdays.