The Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) has announced that more than 3.5 million Nigerians have completed online pre-registration for voter cards within the first three weeks of its ongoing nationwide Continuous Voter Registration (CVR) exercise.
The update was contained in a statement issued Monday by Sam Olumeku, INEC National Commissioner and Chairman of the Information and Voter Education Committee.
According to the Commission, as of Sunday, September 7, 2025, a total of 3,544,850 citizens had completed online pre-registration since the process began on August 18, 2025.
Of this number, 1,709,933 are male, representing 48.24 percent, while 1,834,917 are female, making up 51.76 percent. A significant majority of registrants—2,291,809, or 64.65 percent—fall within the 18 to 34 age bracket. Students account for 882,441 of the online registrants, representing 24.89 percent.
INEC also announced that it would now present online and physical registration figures together in a unified graphic going forward.
As of Thursday, September 4, the total number of completed in-person registrations stood at 288,614, following the commencement of the physical registration phase on August 25, 2025.
Out of the completed registrations, 132,634 are male (45.96 percent), while 155,980 are female (54.04 percent). Youths between 18 and 34 years old make up 215,414 of the completed registrations, which is 74.64 percent of the total. Students constitute 114,150 of the in-person registrations, accounting for 39.55 percent.
INEC added that a detailed breakdown of registrations by state, gender, age, occupation, and disability status has been made available on its official website and social media platforms.
While expressing appreciation to citizens and civil society organisations mobilising participation in the CVR exercise, INEC reiterated that only Nigerians aged 18 years and above are legally eligible to register. The Commission warned that it is illegal for anyone to encourage underage registration or attempt to register individuals who are not yet 18 in the hope that they will attain voting age before the 2027 general election.
INEC also clarified that online pre-registration alone does not complete the voter registration process. Eligible voters must visit designated INEC offices to have their biometric data—including fingerprints—captured in person before they can be issued a Permanent Voter Card (PVC).
Speaking on The Morning Brief on Channels Television, INEC’s Director of ICT, Bayode Lawrence, explained that biometric capture remains a non-negotiable part of the process. According to him, “You can’t complete the entire process online. We still need to capture your fingerprint biometric at our centres. If online biometric capture were possible, there would be no need to visit our offices, but for now, it’s a critical part of the process.”
INEC had previously emphasized, in a statement on August 20, that PVCs would not be issued unless registrants complete the physical biometric phase at INEC offices.
