The Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) has released the final list of registered voters for the 2023 general election
In the list made available to political parties yesterday, Lagos State has the highest number of registered voters with 7,060,195, followed by Kano State with 5,921,370.
The list showed that INEC registered 93, 469,008 voters for the general polls.
The 93,469,008 registered Nigerians will decide who will become the next president of Nigeria among candidates of the All Progressives Congress (APC), Bola Tinubu; People’s Democratic Party (PDP), Atiku Abubakar, Labour Party, Peter Obi and candidates of other parties in the 2023 presidential election.
The voter register also shows that Katsina State has 3,516,719 registered voters; Kebbi, 2,032,041; Kogi, 1,932,654; Kwara, 1,695,927; Nasarawa 1,899,244; Niger, 2,698,344; Ogun, 2,688,305; Ondo, 1,991,344; Osun, 1,954,800; Oyo, 3,276,675; Plateau, 2,789,528; Rivers, 3,537,190; Sokoto, 2,172,056; Taraba, 2,022,374; Yobe, 1,485,146, and Zamfara State, 1,485,146.
Others are Abia 2,120,808; Adamawa, 2,196,566; Akwa Ibom, 2,357,418; Anambra, 2,656,437; Bauchi, 2,749,268; Bayelsa, 1,056,862; Benue 2,513,281; Borno, 2,513,281; Cross River, 1,766,466; Delta 3,221,697; Ebonyi, 1,597,646; Edo, 2,501,081; Ekiti, 987,647; Enugu, 2,112,793; FCT 1,570,307 Gombe, 1,575,794; Imo, 2,419,922; Jigawa, 2,351,298, and Kaduna, 4,335,208.
A breakdown of the number of eligible voters indicates that *men constitute 52.5 percent, while women make up 47.5 percent of the total figure.*
The nation’s electoral body disclosed that after the cleaning up of its data from the last Continuous Voter Registration (CVR) exercise between June 2021 and July 2022, 9,518,188 new voters were added to the previous register resulting in the preliminary register of 93,522,272 which was presented to Nigerians for claims and objections as required by law.
However, at the end of the period for claims and objections by citizens, the commission said it received 53,264 objections from Nigerians to the prevalence of ineligible persons on the register by virtue of age, citizenship, or death.
INEC chairman, Prof Mahmood Yakubu, disclosed this yesterday at the presentation of the national register of voters to political parties in Abuja.
Yakubu said the 53,264 names were being verified and removed from the register at the end of the clean-up of its data for claims and objections by citizens.
Consequently, the INEC chairman said the final list of registered voters stands at 93,469,008.
Of this cumulative figure, he said “49,054,162 (52.5 percent) are male while 44,414,846 (47.5 percent) are female.”
According to him, the distribution by age group shows that 37,060,399 (39.65 percent) are youth between the ages of 18 and 34; 33,413,591 (35.75 percent) are middle-aged persons between the ages of 35 and 49; 17,700,270 (18.94 percent) are elderly voters between the ages of 50 and 69, while 5,294,748 (5.66 percent) are senior citizens aged 70 and above.
He said, “In terms of occupational distribution, students constitute the largest category with 26,027,481 (27.8 percent) of all voters, followed by 14,742,554 (15.8 percent) Farmers/Fishermen and 13,006,939 (13.9 percent) housewives.”
He recalled that for the 2019 general election, Nigeria had a voter population of 84,004,084.
Recalling that the data on disability was not collected for a previous registration, he however said the cumulative figure of 85,362 persons from the recent CVR indicates that there are 21,150 (24.5 percent) persons with Albinism, 13,387 (15.7 percent) with physical impediment and 8,103 (9.5 percent) are blind.
He said the soft copy of the complete registration will be presented to each political party.
Yakubu continued: “It is organized by State, Local Government, Ward, and Polling Unit. It is also the same register that will be used on Election Day. Hard copies of the breakdown of the register by State of the Federation and analysis by gender, age group, occupation, and disability are enclosed in your folders for this meeting.
“The soft copy of the breakdown and analysis will be uploaded to our website and social media platforms shortly. I would like to reiterate our commitment to a transparent, credible, and inclusive 2023 General Election.
“We will continue to take every step to protect the sanctity of the votes cast by citizens and to deal with infractions, including the arrest and prosecution of persons that attempt to perpetuate illegality at Polling Units on Election Day, be they underage voters or vote buyers.”
He also lauded the patience of Nigerians who have been queuing up at the designated centers to collect the PVCs.
To make it easier, he said the Commission devolved the collection to the 8,809 Registration Areas/Wards nationwide.
“We have also uploaded the comprehensive list of the Ward collection centers nationwide to our website. The locations can also be identified by sending a short text message to any of the two dedicated telephone lines. The details are also available on the Commission’s website,” he said.
With just 44 days to the 2023 General Election, he reiterated that electioneering campaigns are in full swing following the nomination of candidates for the 1,491 constituencies.
“As you are no doubt aware, the Presidential election as well as elections for 109 Senatorial Districts and 360 Federal Constituencies will be held on Saturday 25th February 2023.
“Two weeks later, governorship elections in 28 States of the Federation and all 993 State Assembly constituencies will be held on Saturday 11th March 2023,” he said.
He also lauded the chairmen and leaders of political parties for their sustained engagement with the commission in particular and Nigerians in general on critical electoral issues.
“I want to reassure you that working together, we will sustain the tradition of regular consultative meetings with political parties and other critical stakeholders,” he said.
He recalled that on February 26, 2022, the commission released the Timetable and Schedule of Activities for the 2023 General Election.
Since then, he said the commission has been relentlessly implementing the 14 step-by-step activities listed in the Timetable.
Already, he said substantial quantities of sensitive and non-sensitive materials have been deployed to various locations across the country.
“The last batch of the Bimodal Voter Accreditation System (BVAS) has been received while the ongoing configuration of the critical technology in readiness for elections will soon be completed.
“In the last two days, we commenced the airlifting of other sensitive materials to States across the country. Already, some of the materials for 17 States in three geo-political zones have been delivered,” he said.
He further said 13,868,441 PVCs have been printed, and delivered to States and are being collected by citizens as new voters or by existing voters who applied for transfer or replacement of cards as provided by law.
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