The Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) has produced a full list of registered voters across the country in advance of the general elections that will take place in 2023. The greatest voting population is comprised of students and farmers.
The Chairman of INEC, Mahmood Yakubu, made this information public while announcing the publication of the national register of voters for the general elections in 2023 in Abuja. Yakubu stated that a total of 93,469,008 people are registered to participate in the general elections in 2023.
According to him, the highest voting population in Nigeria’s national voter register for the 2023 general elections is comprised of students and framers/fishermen with 26,027,481 representing 27.8 per cent and 14,742,554 representing 15.8 per cent respectively, while housewives make up 13,006,939 or 13.9 per cent of the voters’ distribution.
According to Mahmood, out of the 93,469,008 people who are registered to vote, there are 49,054,162 men, which represents 52.5 per cent, and 44,414,846 females, which represents 47.5 per cent.
The chairman of INEC stated that 37,060,399 voters, representing 39.65 per cent of the total, are young people between the ages of 18 and 34; 33,413,591, or 35.75 per cent of the total, are middle-aged folks between the ages of 35 and 49.
He went on to say that there are 17,700,270 elderly voters who are between the ages of 50 and 69, which accounts for 18.94 per cent of all voters, and there are 5,294,748 senior people who are aged 70 and above, which accounts for 5.66 per cent of all votes.
He also mentioned that the cumulative figure of 85,362 people from the most recent CVR indicates that there are 21,150 people who have albinism, which accounts for 24 per cent of the population; 13,387 people, which accounts for 15.7 per cent of the population; and 8,103 people, which accounts for 9.5 per cent of the population who are blind.
He reaffirmed that the presidential election, as well as elections for the 109 senatorial districts and 360 federal constituencies, will take place on Saturday, February 25, 2023. He also stated that the governorship elections in all 28 states of the federation, as well as elections for all 993 state assembly constituencies, will take place on Saturday, March 11, 2023.
According to the head of INEC, the commission has already effectively implemented 11 out of the 14 actions specified in its timetable and calendar of operations for the 2023 general elections, both of which have been made public since February 26th, 2022.
“Already, significant volumes of both critical and non-sensitive materials have been dispersed around the country in a variety of locations,” the official said. The final batch of the Bimodal Voter Accreditation System (BVAS) has been received, and the continuing setup of the essential technologies to be ready for elections will soon be finished. These developments come just in time. Over the course of the past two days, we started the process of airlifting other critical goods to different locations around the country.
“Already, we have supplied part of the supplies for 17 states that are spread over three geopolitical zones. In addition, 13,868,441 Permanent Voter Cards (PVCs) have been manufactured, distributed to states, and are now being collected by persons who are either new voters or existing voters who have asked for a transfer or replacement of their voter cards in accordance with the provisions of the law.
In a similar vein, a new national register of voters has been established after the countrywide exhibition of the voters’ register and the settlement of claims and objections by residents. In a nutshell, never before in the commission’s recent history has such an extensive amount of advance preparation and implementation been completed 44 days before a general election.
“Therefore, the commission is not even considering the possibility of delaying the general election, let alone making any kind of alteration to the election schedule,” To clear up any confusion, the elections for president and the national legislature will take place on Saturday, the 25th of February 2023. The elections for the governor and the state parliament will take place two weeks later, on Saturday, the 11th of March 2023.
“The constant guarantee from the security authorities that appropriate protection would be provided for our staff, materials, and procedures also strengthens our willingness to move through with this.” The general elections are going to take place as planned in 2023. “Any story that suggests otherwise is not representative of the commission’s official view,” he stated.
