The Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) said it has received 542,576 online applications since resumption of the Continuous Voter Registration (CVR) which commenced on June 28, 2020.
INEC chairman, Prof. Mahmood Yakubu made the disclosure at a meeting with Resident Electoral Commissioners (REC) in Abuja.
According to him: “456,909 were fresh registrants while 85,667 applied for voter transfer, replacement of Permanent Voter Cards (PVCs), update of voter information record, among others.
“Out of 542,576 online registrants so far, 356,777 (or 66%) are young people between the ages of 18 and 34 years. This is followed by 134,719 middle aged registrants who fall between 35 and 49 years.
“The third category is elderly persons aged between 50 and 69 years of which 44,896 Nigerians have registered. Interestingly, some 6,184 senior citizens (aged 70 years and above) have taken advantage of the new online opportunity to register.
“On occupational distribution of registrants, 156,446 are students; 38,217 artisans; 24,421 farmers and fishermen; 150,145 businessmen and traders; 35,831 employed as civil and public servants and 8,334 housewives.
“The remaining 129,182 registrants did not specify their occupations. On gender, 321,781 are male while 220,795 are female.â€
The INEC chair however explained the Commission was aware that not all Nigerians have access to computers, smart phones or internet connectivity to register online.
He assured every eligible registrant they would be given opportunity for physical or in-person registration at designated centres, adding that even the online registrants would have to complete their registration physically at those centres.
Yakubu said the commission has approved a detailed timetable and schedule of activities for the CVR exercise, including the display of the register of new voters for claims and objections by citizens at various stages of the process as required by law.
According to him, the CVR exercise would be held over a period of 13 months and terminate on July 11, 2022.
The INEC boss said the electoral body has configured enough machines and commenced deployment nationwide for further training of officials in readiness for the commencement of the physical registration.
