Youths Constitute 65% of New CVR Registrants—INEC Chairman

By Ashemiriogwa Emmanuel

Young Nigerians across the country between the ages of 18 and 34 make up 65 per cent of new registrants for the Continuous Voter Registration (CVR) exercise, and 72 per cent of completed registrations so far.

This was recently disclosed by the Chairman of the Independent Electoral Commission (INEC), Mr Mahmood Yakubu, while speaking at the third quarterly meeting with political parties held at the commission conference room in Abuja.

It would be recalled that the last meeting of its kind, which was held in June, saw the presentation of technology-driven innovations to facilitate the CVR exercise in the form of a portal for online pre-registration of voters as well as the new INEC Voter Enrolment Device (IVED) for physical registration.

While giving an update on the new CVR registrants, the INEC boss said, as of the time of presentation, nearly 3 million fresh voters have pre-registered online, while 717,000 Nigerians across states and local governments nationwide have completed their registration at the designated centres.

In the statement, Mr Yakubu said, “Since the resumption of the CVR online on June 28, 2021, we have been giving Nigerians weekly updates on the progress of the exercise which has entered its 11th week today.

“As of 7 am today, Monday, September 6, 2021, [a total of] 2,729,819 fresh voters have pre-registered online. Similarly, we have been giving weekly updates of the physical registration in our state and local government offices nationwide. We started on July 26, 2021. So far, 717,947 Nigerians have completed their registration at the designated centres.”

Emphasizing the benefit of technology in the collation of data and cumulative distribution of registered voters based on demographics, Mr Yakubu relayed a statistical report on the engagement of Nigerians in the ongoing registration exercise.

“For instance, in terms of age, young Nigerians between the ages of 18 and 34 constitute 65 per cent of new registrants and 72 per cent of completed registrations so far.

“In terms of occupation, students constitute 32 per cent of the new registrants and 42 per cent of completed registrations and remain the largest category since the exercise began 11 weeks ago,” the INEC chairman explained.

He added that the provision of these data will help leaders of political parties in articulating manifestos and planning campaigns to target the concerns of specific categories of citizens, as they have been uploaded to the Commission’s website and social media platforms.

Mr Yakubu reiterated the commission’s continued effort in innovating on how to strengthen the credibility of voter accreditation and result management during elections in Nigeria, noting that the deployment of appropriate technology is crucial and desirable.