One million Nigerians register as INEC begins physical voter registration

Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) on Monday said it has received over one million applications within one month of resumption of Continuous Voter Registration (CVR).

This was the commission announced the commencement of the physical registration exercise in its 811 state and local government area offices nationwide.

INEC national commissioner and the chairman, Information and Voter Education Committee, Festus Okoye, who made the disclosure said the number of new registrants has risen to 1,006,661 in the last four weeks.

Okoye, however, revealed that total of 1,135,395 people have used the portal in the past one month,a figure that also included applications submitted by people who are requesting voter transfer, replacement of PVC, or update of voter information record.

He added 740,063 applications representing 73.5 per cent were young Nigerians between the ages of 18 and 34.

Statistics released by the commission showed that the highest number of applicants that have registered were from Osun State with 259,450 total applications.

This was followed by Edo from where 98,286 applications were submitted and Bayelsa with 63,250 applications.

In contrast to the south, many states in the northern region registered a low number of applications with 1,893 in Yobe, the lowest, 2,453 in Sokoto, and 2,769 in Zamfara.

Besides, Okoye noted that the exact locations of the designated centres for physical registration had been uploaded on the commission’s website and social media platforms.

“Nigerians who pre-registered online can now complete their registration at those centres based on scheduled appointments. In addition, other Nigerians who prefer to register physically/in-person can now do so at those centres,” he said.

Okoye disclosed that both online pre-registration and physical registration would continue simultaneously until the suspension of the exercise on June 30, 2022.

This according him, would enable the commission to clean up the data and compile the voters’ register for the 2023 General Election.

“I wish to remind citizens that the ongoing registration does not include those already registered as voters. The current exercise is only open to Nigerians who are 18 years and above who have not registered before. It is an offence under the Electoral Act for any citizen to register more than once.”, he added.