Jigawa, Lagos took the lead as INEC registered 3.4 million new voters

The Independent National Election Commission said it had registered more than 3.4 million new voters in the second phase of the nationwide Continuous Voter Registration implementation.

The commission in its 13th week update released on Wednesday in Abuja, said a total of 3,441,121 registrations had been completed as of April 3, which includes online pre-registrations and physical walk-ins.

INEC revealed that 2,068,384 citizens completed their registration online, while another 1,372,737 registered physically at designated centers across the country.

State-by-state data shows that Jigawa recorded the highest number of registrations with 201,047 people, representing 5.84 percent of the total.

Lagos followed with 181,095, while Kano ranked third with 177,681 registrations.

Youth participation remains dominant, with residents aged between 18 and 34 accounting for 2,354,768 registrants, representing 68.43 percent of the total number of registrants.

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The gender distribution shows a higher participation rate among women, with the number of women registering as many as 1,922,143 people (55.86 percent), compared to men who numbered 1,518,978 people (44.14 percent).

Based on employment details, students are the largest group of new voters, namely 1,235,931, representing 35.92 percent.

Followed by business actors with 701,912 (20.40 percent) and agricultural and fisheries actors with 615,967 (18.28 percent).

INEC also reported that there were 48,330 Persons with Disabilities registered in that period.

The Commission noted that the figures are still preliminary, and explained that they are “preliminary figures pending data cleaning during the period of citizen claims and objections, followed by implementation of the Automatic Biometric Identification System.”

It further stated that voter registration in the Federal Capital Territory remains suspended in accordance with Article 9(6) of the General Elections Act 2022, following the Territorial Council Elections held on February 21.

INEC urges eligible Nigerians who have not yet registered to visit its official portal to complete their registration before the deadline.