Victor Ezeja
The Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) has announced that a total number of 93.469 million Nigerians registered and will be eligible to vote in the forthcoming general elections.
INEC Chairman, Prof Mahmood Yakubu made this known during a meeting with political parties at the Commission’s headquarters in Abuja on Wednesday.
Yakubu said that Lagos has the highest number of registered voters with 7,060,195, while Kano State followed with 5,921,370, and Kaduna State with 4,335,208.
The data shows that there are more male registered voters with 49,054,162 (52.5 per cent) and 44,414,846 female (47.5 per cent).
A further breakdown shows that Nigerian youths between the age of 18 to 34 had the highest number of registered voters within the age distribution with a total number of 37,060,399, representing 39.65 per cent).
Middle-aged persons between 35-49, are 33,413,591, (35.75 per cent), the elderly within the age range of 50-69 is 17,700,270, (18.94 per cent) and those from 70 years and above have 5,294,748, which is about 5.66 per cent.
Join our WhatsApp ChannelRecords show that since 1999 when the country returned to democracy, the number of registered voters has been on an upward swing.
In 1999, 57.94 million registered voters participated in the election, in 2003 60.82 million, in 2007- 61.57 million, in 2011 – 73.53 million, in 2015 – 67.42 million and in 2019 INEC 84 million voters in the election.
The INEC chairman assured that the election will be held as planned on: February 25 for presidential and National Assembly seats, and March 11 for Governorship and State Assemblies.
The electoral body in a tweet on Wednesday evening, equally disclosed that Persons With Disabilities (PWDs) are 85,362 (recorded in the 2021/2022 Continuous Voter Registration CVR) exercise.
On the issue of ineligible voters in the register, the Commission indicated that 53,264 ineligible voters were removed, adding that underaged voters and vote buyers will be arrested, and duly prosecuted.
It also disclosed that 13,868,441 PVCs were printed and delivered to States, while election materials for 17 states have been delivered.
Victor Ezeja is a passionate journalist with seven years of experience writing on economy, politics and energy. He holds a Master's degree in Mass Communication.
