INEC: 93.4m voters’ll vote in 2023 elections

The Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) says 93.4 million registered voters will decide the fate of Nigerians in the 2023 general election.

INEC said 49 million voters, representing 52.5 per cent are male, while 44 million electorate, representing 47.5 per cent are female.

The electoral umpire noted that 37 million voters are youths between the ages of 18 and 34; 34 million voters are middle aged persons between the age of 35; 49 million electorate are elderly voters between the ages of 50 and 69; while 5 million voters are senior citizens aged 70 and above.

The INEC Chairman, Prof. Mahmood Yakubu, made the disclosure at the presentation of the national register voters to political parties at the commission’s headquarters in Abuja on Wednesday.

Yakubu said: “The register of voters for the 2023 General Election stands at 93,469,008. Of this cumulative figure, 49,054,162 (52.5%) are male while 44,414,846 (47.5%) are female.

“The distribution by age group shows that 37,060,399 (39.65%) are youth between the ages of 18 and 34; 33,413,591 (35.75%) are middle aged persons between the ages of 35 and 49; 17,700,270 (18.94%) are elderly voters between the ages of 50 and 69 while 5,294,748 (5.66%) are senior citizens aged 70 and above.

“In terms of occupational distribution, students constitute the largest category with 26,027,481 (27.8%) of all voters, followed by 14,742,554 (15.8%) farmers/fishermen, and 13,006,939 (13.9%) housewives.

“The data on disability was not collected for previous registration. However, the cumulative figure of 85,362 persons from the recent CVR indicates that there are 21,150 (24.5%) persons with Albinism; 13,387 (15.7%) with physical impediment and 8,103 (9.5%) are blind.

“The softcopy of the complete register will be presented to each political party shortly.

“It is organised by State, Local Government, Ward and Polling Unit. It is also the same register that will be used on Election Day.

“Hard copies of the breakdown of the register by states of the federation and analysis by gender, age group, occupation, and disability are enclosed in your folders for this meeting.

“The softcopy of the breakdown and analysis will be uploaded to our website and social media platforms shortly,” the INEC boss stated.

He noted that substantial quantities of sensitive and non-sensitive materials have been deployed to various locations across the country.

Yakubu said the last batch of the Bimodal Voter Accreditation System (BVAS) has been received, adding that the ongoing configuration of the critical technology in readiness for elections will soon be completed.

“In the last two days, we commenced the airlifting of other sensitive materials to states across the country. Already, some of the materials for 17 States in three geo-political zones have been delivered.

“13,868,441 Permanent Voter Cards (PVCs) have been printed, delivered to states, and are being collected by citizens as new voters or by existing voters who applied for transfer or replacement of cards as provided by law.

The Star