INEC: 4.5m Youths Completed Online Voter Registration In May 2022

The Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) has said 4.5 million Nigerian youths completed the online registration for fresh voters’ cards as of May 30, 2022.

The youths, who are between the ages of 18 and 34, according to INEC’s data, accounted for 69.5 per cent of the total registrations completed online since the beginning of the continuous voter registration (CVR).

The commission announced that while it received 10.2 million fresh applications, only 6.5 million applicants completed their registration, out of which the youths accounted for 4.5 million.

The youth’s interest in registering for voters’ cards this year may have been aroused by various advocacy campaigns by influencers on various social media platforms, especially Twitter.

Out of the 6.5 million persons who completed the online registration, INEC said 1.3 million were middle-aged Nigerians between the age of 35 to 49; while 556,572 were elderly people between the ages of 50 to 69.

Older people between the ages of 70 and above also used the online platform to register for voters’ card as 76,186 of them completed their registration.

In analysing the gender, 3.25 million of the applicants were male while 3.29 million were female.

The electoral umpire had announced that the online registration would close on Monday, May 30, 2022, while the CVR would end on June 30, 2022. But it was learnt that the portal was still open yesterday for the exercise.

Also, the Socio-Economic Rights and Accountability Project (SERAP) has urged INEC Chairman, Professor Mahmood Yakubu, to extend the deadline for voter registration to give more time for eligible Nigerians to exercise their right to participate in the same way the electoral body has extended the deadline for party primaries.