Over 1.5 Million Nigerians register in seven weeks as CVR exercise gains momentum

The Independent National Electoral Commission, INEC, has said 1,565,873 Nigerians have successfully registered in the ongoing Phase III Continuous Voter Registration (CVR) exercise as of June 26.

According to figures released by the commission, 620,933 registrants completed online pre-registration, while 944,940 registered physically across the country.

The commission, however, said “that the statistics remained preliminary, pending a comprehensive data clean-up during the scheduled period for public claims and objections, which would be followed by the deployment of the Automated Biometric Identification System (ABIS)”.

State-by-state data showed Kano recorded the highest number of registrants with 118,207, followed by Lagos with 78,360 and Delta with 76,395.

The commission also disclosed that “voter registration was temporarily suspended in Ekiti and Osun states in line with provisions of the Electoral Act ahead of governorship elections”.

Women accounted for 821,276 registrants, representing 52.45 per cent of the total, while men made up 744,597 or 47.55 per cent.

Young people aged 18 to 34 dominated the exercise, accounting for 1,082,985 registrations, while students emerged as the largest occupational group with 384,093 registrants. INEC also recorded 18,919 registrations by Persons with Disabilities (PWDs).

The commission urged eligible Nigerians yet to register to take advantage of the online portal and designated registration centres nationwide.