The Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) has announced a significant milestone in its Continuous Voter Registration drive, confirming that over eight million Nigerians have commenced the process to join the country’s electoral roll. According to the commission’s latest weekly data, the exercise has already recorded 8,003,196 citizens completing the crucial online pre-registration phase.
The state of Imo has emerged as the clear frontrunner in this initial phase, recording the highest number of online sign-ups with 826,850 entries. This impressive figure accounts for more than ten per cent of the national total. Trailing in second place is Lagos State, a key economic hub, which saw 604,619 prospective voters pre-register online. Ogun State secured the third spot nationally, with 510,062 citizens commencing their registration. Conversely, the commission noted that participation has been lowest in Yobe State, with just 2,714 entries recorded thus far. It was also clarified that the entire exercise remains suspended in Anambra State in accordance with the Electoral Act, owing to the state’s impending governorship election scheduled for November.
A deeper look at the demographics of the online pre-registrants reveals a strong and encouraging trend amongst Nigeria’s younger population and female citizens. Young Nigerians aged between 18 and 34 years constitute the vast majority of those registering, making up nearly 70 per cent of all entries, with 5,533,514 individuals. Middle-aged citizens, those between 35 and 49 years old, followed with roughly a fifth of the total registrations. Women slightly edged out men in overall participation, accounting for 52.37 per cent of registrants compared to 47.63 per cent for males. In terms of occupation, students formed the single largest group, contributing over a quarter of the total figures, followed by those who identify as business professionals. Additionally, persons with disabilities accounted for 2.29 per cent of all online applicants.
While the eight million figure represents the initial online step, the commission also released data on those who have successfully completed the entire registration process, which includes the mandatory in-person biometric capture. So far, 1,710,450 Nigerians have completed both the online pre-registration and the subsequent physical verification at designated registration centres.
The list of leading states for these fully completed registrations shows a different hierarchy. Osun State currently leads with 151,593 completed entries, followed by the Federal Capital Territory (FCT) at 106,855. Lagos State, despite being second in online pre-registration, slipped to third place here with 85,831 fully registered voters. The demographic trend remains consistent for the completed figures, with youth and women still representing the dominant groups, a positive sign for the future of the nation’s electoral process.
The Independent National Electoral Commission emphasised that all these figures are provisional. The final, validated statistics will only be available following the comprehensive data clean-up, which involves running all records through the Automated Biometric Identification System (ABIS). This crucial step is designed to detect and eliminate any instances of multiple or invalid registrations. The commission continues to urge all eligible citizens who have only pre-registered online to attend their nearest physical registration centre as quickly as possible to complete their biometric data capture.
