The Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) says more than 2.5 million Nigerians have completed their online voter pre-registration since the nationwide Continuous Voter Registration (CVR) exercise began on August 18.
This was disclosed in an update on the exercise released by Mr. Sam Olumekun, National Commissioner and Chairman of INEC’s Information and Voter Education Committee, after the commission’s regular meeting on Tuesday in Abuja.
Olumekun said no fewer than 72,274 citizens also participated in in-person registration within five days of its commencement.
“The cumulative figure at the end of week two shows that 1,218,482 (48.12 per cent) are male and 1,313,580 (51.88 per cent) are female. In terms of age and occupation, the majority – 1,602,484 (63.29 per cent) – are between the ages of 18 and 34, while 647,528 (25.57 per cent) are students,” he said.
On the in-person exercise, which began on August 25, Olumekun explained that as at Friday, August 29, a total of 72,274 citizens had either completed their pre-registration or registered afresh.
He added that out of the figure, 35,622 (49.29 per cent) were male and 36,652 (50.71 per cent) female, while 54,718 (75.71 per cent) fell within the 18–34 age bracket, and 30,953 (42.83 per cent) were students.
Olumekun stressed that the pre-registration figures were generated from INEC’s dedicated CVR portal, noting that the option, introduced in 2021, has enabled Nigerians to begin the process online from anywhere in the world, at any time, including weekends.
He urged online pre-registrants to complete the process physically at any of INEC’s 811 state and local government offices nationwide, where their fingerprints and facial biometric details would be captured.
“The Commission is aware that there are Nigerians who have no access to online facilities or who prefer to register in person. Consequently, our staff have been deployed to attend to eligible citizens at the Commission’s 811 state and local government offices nationwide where they can simultaneously begin and complete their registration. The centres are open from 9am – 3pm daily (Monday to Friday),” he added.
Olumekun said the list and addresses of the centres had already been made public, while the graphic details of the distribution of registrants by state, gender, age, occupation and disability had been uploaded to INEC’s website and other official platforms.
