Preliminary Voters’ Register Hits 93.52M, INEC Insists on BVAS, IReV for 2023 Polls

26^th October 2022

Following the successful clean-up of the data harvested from the Continuous Voter Registration (CVR) exercise that the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) conducted between 28^th June 2021 and 31^st July 2022, the preliminary register of voters in Nigeria now stands at 93,522,272.

Specifically, 12,298,944 Nigerians successfully completed the registration as new voters while the CVR lasted. But after a rigorous purification of the data using the Automated Biometric Identification System (ABIS), 2,780,765 persons or 22.6 percent were found to be ineligible and were subsequently removed from the record, bringing the number of valid registrations to 9,518,188. There are 84,004,084 registered voters in the existing national register.

INEC Chairman, Prof. Mahmood Yakubu, who made the revelation at the Commission’s third regular consultative meeting with leaders of political parties held in Abuja on Wednesday 26^th October, also explained why he used the word “preliminary” even after the Commission had added the valid registrants to the current national register of voters.

He said: “The 9,518,188 new voters have been added to the existing register of 84,004,084 voters. The preliminaryregister of voters in Nigeria now stands at 93,522,272. It is preliminary because Section 19(1) and (2) of the Electoral Act 2022 requires the Commission to display the hard copies of the register of voters for each Registration Area (Ward) and Local Government Area (and simultaneously publish the entire register on the Commission’s website) for a period of two weeks for scrutiny, claims and objections by citizens not later than 90 days to a General Election. 

“Accordingly, in the next few days, the Commission will print 9,352,228 pages of the register. The hard copy will be displayed for each of the 8,809 Registration Areas (Wards) and 774 Local Government Areas nationwide, while the entire register will be published on our website for claims and objections as required by law. The display of the physical register will take place at the designated centres from Saturday 12^th – Friday 25^th November 2022. Further details, including the procedure for filing claims and objections, will be released by the Commission next week.”

He appealed to Nigerians to seize the opportunity of the display to scrutinize the list and help INEC to clean it up further “so that the final register of voters for the 2023 General Election can be compiled and published.”

The demographic distribution of the new voters offers valuable insights. Prof. Yakubu said “7.2 million new voters or 76.5 percent (of the total figure – 9,518,188) are young people between 18 and 34 years, while there is a slightly higher number of females (4.8 million or 50.82 percent) than males (4.6 million or 49.18 percent). In terms of occupation 3.8 million (40.8 percent) are students.” 

The INEC Chairman regretted that a handful of the Commission’s Registration Officers were involved in unethical conduct. According to him, thousands of diligent staff were deployed for the CVR exercise, the majority of whom discharged their duties conscientiously. Nevertheless, he said the Commission discovered that fictitious registrations were carried out by some of the Registration Officers involved in the field exercise. 

His words: “Each registration machine is operated using an access code tied to a dedicated e-mail assigned to a staff. There is therefore an audit trail that gives the total number of persons registered by each official involved in the registration exercise. In some cases, some of them made as many as 40 attempts or more to register one fake voter. As a result, the Commission has so far identified 23 Registration Officers involved in this unethical conduct and disciplinary action has commenced. We shall continue to protect the integrity of our voters’ register. It is pivotal to credible elections. It is also a national asset and easily the largest database of citizens in Africa and one of the largest in the world.”

Collection of Permanent Voters’ Cards (PVC)

The INEC Chairman assured that the Commission is working hard to complete the printing of the remaining PVCs for new voters and those that applied for transfer or replacement of their lost or damaged cards.

“In the coming days,” he said, “we will also inform Nigerians of the detailed plan to ensure a seamless collection of the PVCs. We are aware that Nigerians expect an improvement in the procedure for PVC collection. Since the end of the CVR in July this year, we have been working hard to ensure that citizens have a pleasant experience when they come to collect their cards.”

BVAS, IReV Will Be Deployed

With an unequivocal voice, Prof. Yakubu reassured Nigerians, for the second time in two weeks, that the Commission would deploy the Bimodal Voter Accreditation System (BVAS) for voter accreditation during the 2023 general election. He also affirmed that polling unit results would be transmitted to the INEC Result Viewing (IReV) portal in real time on election day. He added: “There will be no Incident Form that enables ineligible persons to vote using other people’s Permanent Voters’ Cards during elections. We are committed to ensuring that the 2023 General Election is transparent and credible, reflecting the will of the people.”

Violence During Campaigns

The INEC Chairman cautioned political parties, candidates, and their supporters to eschew violence during electioneering campaign, against the background of clashes among supporters of different parties, allegations of denial of access to public facilities and the destruction of billboards and other outdoor campaign materials by thugs.

He said: “The campaigns have just begun. As party leaders, you should remain committed to peaceful electioneering. We will continue to work together to remove encumbrances to the right of parties and candidates to freely canvass for the support of the electorate. The Commission will continue to track the campaigns and will not hesitate to initiate the prosecution of violators as provided by law.”