Nigerian youths appear ready to make their impact felt in deciding the country’s elected leaders this time.
Usually considered apolitical with social media rather than the poll being their tool to elect leaders, figures from the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) show that youths account for 63.9 percent of the total record of new registrations.
If their efforts are turned into action, it will be the first time at least since the commencement of the Fourth Republic in 1999 that young Nigerians will make impact in elections in the country.
The figure is likely to be more as INEC’s Continuous Voter Registration (CVR) exercise continues indefinitely, and more campaigns targeted at voter registration by the youths continue across the country.
According to INEC, as at 7 am of 4 July, fresh registrations hit 10,487, 972 in Week 12 of the fourth quarter since the CVR exercise began in June last year.
INEC gave the figure of completed registration to be 9,455,198. Those that registered online were 3,314,169, while physically registration amounted to 6,141,029.
Notably, the first week of July report showed a decline in the number of online student registrants as May and June recorded two million more online student registrants.
The report also showed a three million increase between the May and June in total number of registrants with completed registration.
The INEC CVR Update showed a total number of 4,682,036 for male registrants and 4,773,162 for female. Persons with Disabilities accounted for 71,998 and youths recorded 6,698,446.
The record of registration by states revealed that Delta State has the highest number of new registrants (641,174), followed by Lagos (640,774), Kaduna (574, 811) and Bayelsa States (550,207). This also revealed that Delta State ranked top two amongst states with highest number of registrants sine May 2022.
In the last week of June, the INEC CVR Update showed that fresh registrants were 10,487,972.
Completed registration then was 8,631,696, with online voters accounting for 3,250,449 and physical registration being 5,381,247.
The commission recently extension of the CVR, which started in 2021. It was scheduled to end on 30 June.
The extension followed a court ruling in response to an action filed by a human rights organisation, Socio Economic Right and Accountability Project, and other concerned Nigerians.
