The All Progressives Congress National Leader for Persons with Disabilities, Aare (Hon.) Tolu Bankole, has faulted the presentation of the Independent National Electoral Commission’s disability figures, saying the data does not reflect the full number of persons with disabilities registered as voters in Nigeria.
Bankole, in a statement issued on Sunday in Abuja, said INEC’s recently disclosed figure of 137,487 Persons with Disabilities (PWDs) should not be interpreted as the total number of PWDs on the national Register of Voters.
INEC had disclosed that its available data showed 137,487 PWDs, comprising 13,080 visually impaired persons, 9,299 hearing-impaired persons, 30,561 persons with albinism, 19,430 persons with physical impairments and 54,941 persons under other disability categories. The figure was presented during the commission’s national strategy engagement with the Joint National Association of Persons with Disabilities and other Organisations of Persons with Disabilities in Abuja.
However, Bankole argued that the figures represent only voters whose disability status was captured during more recent registration processes and do not account for PWDs who were registered before disability information was systematically captured.
He said, “You cannot count what you never measured,” stressing that many PWDs registered during earlier voter registration cycles were not captured with a disability status.
According to him, Nigeria’s voter registration system has passed through several technological phases, while systematic collection of disability status as a distinct data field became operational with the modern Continuous Voter Registration process.
INEC’s own 2023 voter registration data had similarly stated that disability information was not collected during previous registration exercises. The commission reported 85,362 PWDs from the 2021–2022 CVR exercise while noting that the data did not cover earlier registrations.
Bankole further said that even among voters registered during the period when the disability field was available, the figures could still represent an undercount because some PWDs may not have indicated their disability status.
He identified limited awareness, concerns about stigma, lack of understanding of the purpose of the data and deliberate decisions by some registrants not to disclose their disability status as possible reasons for the gap.
He said the consequence was that PWDs who are already registered to vote could remain invisible in INEC’s disability-disaggregated data.
Bankole therefore urged INEC to consistently qualify its published PWD statistics by explaining the period and methodology covered by the figures.
He also called for intensified sensitisation of PWDs during voter registration and updating exercises, saying eligible voters should understand the importance of accurately indicating their disability status.
The APC disability leader further urged the commission to explore, within legal and privacy safeguards, mechanisms for improving historical visibility of PWDs in the voters’ register or developing reliable estimates of the number of registered PWDs whose disability status was not previously captured.
He welcomed INEC’s engagement with JONAPWD and other disability organisations ahead of the 2027 general elections, but stressed that accurate data was necessary for effective accessibility planning, resource allocation and voter mobilisation.
Bankole said PWDs constituted a significant segment of the electorate and should not be treated as a residual category in electoral planning.
He maintained that greater precision in disability data would help ensure that the practical needs of PWD voters are properly reflected in preparations for future elections.
