Health
CVR: Women dominate as INEC records 3.87m new voters
By Deborah Musa
The Independent National Electoral Commission has announced that a total of 3,867,997 Nigerians completed the online and physical registration process at the end of Week Eleven of Phase III of the Continuous Voter Registration exercise.
The exercise marks the final phase ahead of the 2027 general elections, with women accounting for the majority of new registrants.
The latest figures, released on Wednesday, show the total number of registrations recorded by the commission as of Sunday, July 26, 2026.
The data indicate that 2,037,589 females (52.68 per cent) registered during the exercise, compared to 1,830,408 males (47.32 per cent).
According to the commission, 1,170,134 registrations were completed online, while 2,697,863 were completed through physical registration centres nationwide.
INEC also disclosed that young people aged 18 to 34 years dominated the exercise, accounting for 2,602,960 registrants (67.29 per cent).
The commission said the 35–49 years age bracket recorded 843,757 registrants (21.81 per cent), while 386,095 persons (9.98 per cent) were aged between 50 and 69 years.
Those aged 70 years and above accounted for 35,185 registrants (0.91 per cent).
On occupational distribution, students formed the largest group of registrants with 892,946 (23.09 per cent), followed by those in business with 810,452 (20.95 per cent).
The commission said 649,358 farmers and fishers (16.79 per cent), 640,569 housewives (16.56 per cent), 332,364 persons classified as others (8.59 per cent), 204,660 artisans (5.29 per cent), 175,206 traders (4.53 per cent), 97,328 civil servants (2.52 per cent) and 65,114 public servants (1.68 per cent) also registered during the period.
INEC further reported that 41,092 persons with disabilities completed registration.
A breakdown of the disability category showed that 20,601 registrants (50.13 per cent) fell under the “Others” category, 7,038 (17.13 per cent) had albinism, 3,019 (7.35 per cent) were blind, 2,985 (7.26 per cent) had physical impediments, 2,668 (6.49 per cent) had cognitive learning disabilities, 1,898 (4.62 per cent) were deaf, 1,395 (3.39 per cent) had autism, 831 (2.02 per cent) were persons of little stature, 418 (1.02 per cent) had Down syndrome, while 239 (0.58 per cent) had spinal cord injuries.
State-by-state data showed that Kano recorded the highest number of completed registrations with 330,906, followed by Lagos (181,254), Delta (166,895), Edo (156,150), Ebonyi (146,507) and Sokoto (145,160).
At the lower end of the table, Ekiti recorded 2,276 registrations, while Ondo had 23,824.
The commission noted that no registration took place in Osun State because of the forthcoming governorship election.
It stated, “Registration is suspended in Osun State because of the forthcoming governorship election in line with Section 9(6) of the Electoral Act 2022.”
INEC added that the 3,867,997 registrations remain preliminary figures, pending data clean-up during the period for claims and objections by citizens and the subsequent deployment of the Automated Biometric Identification System.
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