The Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) has announced that a total of 1,565,873 Nigerians had successfully completed the ongoing Continuous Voter Registration (CVR) exercise as of June 26, reflecting the growing participation of eligible citizens in the electoral process.
The commission disclosed that the latest figure was recorded at the conclusion of the seventh week of Phase III of the nationwide Continuous Voter Registration exercise.
Statistics released by the electoral body on Tuesday in Abuja revealed that 620,933 of the registrants completed the online pre-registration process, while 944,940 others finalized their registration through physical enrolment at designated registration centres across the country.
INEC, however, explained that the figures released are still provisional and subject to verification. The commission noted that a comprehensive clean-up of the registration data would be conducted during the public claims and objections period before deploying the Automated Biometric Identification System (ABIS) to eliminate duplicate or invalid entries.
A breakdown of registrations across the states showed that Kano State recorded the highest number of new registrants with 118,207, accounting for 7.55 per cent of the total registrations nationwide. Lagos State followed with 78,360 registrants, representing five per cent, while Delta State came next with 76,395 registrants, equivalent to 4.88 per cent of the overall figure.
The electoral commission further stated that voter registration activities have been put on hold in Ekiti and Osun states following the recently concluded governorship election in Ekiti and the approaching governorship election in Osun. According to INEC, the suspension is in line with Section 9(6) of the Electoral Act 2022.
Gender statistics from the exercise indicated that women constituted the larger share of new registrants. Female registrants stood at 821,276, representing 52.45 per cent of the total, while 744,597 male registrants accounted for the remaining 47.55 per cent.
The age profile of registrants also showed that young Nigerians continued to dominate the exercise. Citizens between the ages of 18 and 34 accounted for 1,082,985 registrations, representing 69.16 per cent of the total. Those aged 35 to 49 recorded 331,376 registrations, making up 21.16 per cent, while the remaining percentage comprised older age categories.
An analysis of the occupational data revealed that students emerged as the largest group of newly registered voters, with 384,093 registrations, representing 24.53 per cent. They were followed by business owners, who accounted for 333,539 registrations or 21.30 per cent, while farmers and fishermen recorded 273,627 registrations, representing 17.47 per cent.
The commission's report also showed that 18,919 Persons with Disabilities (PWDs) successfully registered during the reporting period.
INEC encouraged Nigerians who are qualified to vote but are yet to register to take advantage of the ongoing exercise by accessing its online registration portal at https://cvr.inec.gov.ng or visiting any designated physical Continuous Voter Registration centre across the country to complete their registration ahead of future elections.
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