Laraba MUREY
The Independent National Electoral Commission, INEC, has disclosed that over 2.5 million Nigerians have registered in the ongoing nationwide Continuous Voter Registration, CVR, for both the online and in-person registration of voters.
The National Commissioner and Chairman, Information & Voter Education Committee, Sam Olumekun, made this known on Tuesday at the end of the commission’s regular meeting in Abuja.
The exercise which started on Monday, August 18 is now in its second week with a total of 2,532,062 Nigerians pre-registered online.
The cumulative figure at the end of Week Two shows that 1,218,482 (48.12%) are male and 1,313,580 (51.88%) are female. In terms of age and occupation, the majority – 1,602,484 (63.29%) – are between the ages of 18 and 34, while 647,528 (25.57%) are students.
Olumekun stated that the pre-registration figures are from the commission’s dedicated CVR portal.
“The introduction of the pre-registration option in 2021 has enabled Nigerians to commence the online process from anywhere in the world 24 hours a day including weekends,” he said.
He stressed that all online pre-registrants are required to appear physically to complete the process in the 811 state and local government offices of the INEC nationwide where their fingerprints and facial biometric details will be captured.
“This instruction is clearly stated on the online portal. We urge all online pre-registrants to complete the process in-person at the INEC designated registration centres without which the online process alone is invalid.”
According to him, the Commission is aware that there are Nigerians who have no access to online facilities or those who prefer to register in-person, consequently, their staff have been deployed to attend to eligible citizens at the Commission’s 811 state and local government offices nationwide where they can simultaneously begin and complete their registration.
On the in-person registration in five days, a total 72,274 citizens have either completed the pre-registration process or registered afresh out of which 35,622 (49.29%) are male and 36,652 (50.71%) are female.
In terms of age and occupation, majority of them – 54,718 (75.71%) – are between the ages of 18 and 34, while 30,953 (42.83%) are students.
