From Victor Osula, Abuja
Chairman of the Independent National Electoral Commission, INEC, Professor Mahmood Yakubu has disclosed that 66 per cent of registrants in the ongoing online pre-registration of voters under the Continuous Voter Registration, CVR, are young persons.
According to him, the CVR, started on June 28, 2021 and expected to continue for the next one year, has registered 542,576 out of which young persons totaled 356,777.
Prof Yakubu made the statement during his brief remarks at a meeting of the Resident Electoral Commissioners, REC, held at the INEC conference room in Abuja on Tuesday.
His statement read in part; “As at 7am yesterday, Monday 12th July 2021, exactly two weeks since the exercise began, a total of 542,576 Nigerians have completed the online pre-registration. Out of this figure, 456,909 are fresh registrants while 85,667 have applied for voter transfer, replacement of Permanent Voter Cards (PVCs), update of voter information record etc.
“The Commission is also able to provide Nigerians with information on the distribution of registrants across the States of the Federation and by age, occupation, gender and disability. 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. In our effort to serve all Nigerians better, the Commission has requested registrants to indicate their disability (if any). This will enable us to optimally and efficiently deploy assistive voting devices such as Braille ballot guide and magnifying glasses for persons with special needs at polling units on election day. So far, we have data for 6,558 registrants who have clearly indicated their type of disability.
He assured those who have no access to smart phones, computer or/ and the Internet that 2,673 designated centres have been opened nationwide for physical and in-person registration, adding, “that the CVR exercise which commenced on 28th June 2021 will continue for the next one year.”
