Moves to populate the electoral register to include more eligible voters for the 2023 elections in Nigeria came to a close on July 31, 2022, as the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) suspended the Continuous Voters Registration (CVR) exercise.
According to INEC’s report, at the end of the exercise, a total of 12.29 million registrations had been completed. This means that over 12 million new eligible voters have been added to the country’s voters list which stood at 84 million in 2019.
Interestingly, unlike in the past when the Nigerian youths had been lackluster in registering to vote, increasing awareness going on among the young folks drove a new wave of a reawakening of the youths to their civic responsibility of registering to vote especially in the 2023 elections.
From the latest data, the youths accounted for 71.4% of the completed registration in the CVR, as 8.78 million out of the 12.29 million completed registrations were done by the youths between the age range of 18 to 34.
With the conclusion of the voters’ registration exercise, at least, for the 2023 elections, here are the top 10 states with the highest number of voters based on the 2019 voters register and the new registrations under the CVR exercise as of August 1, 2022.
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° Lagos (7,155,920 registered voters): For the 2019 elections, Lagos had the largest number of registered voters by any state in the country at 6.57 million, according to INEC’s figure. The state maintained its leadership even during the CVR exercise as it recorded the highest completed registration at 585,629. This brought its total voters’ list to 7.15 million, which is still the highest among the 36 states of the federation ahead of the 2023 elections.
° Kano (6,026,850 registered voters): Expectedly, Kano State, which trailed Lagos in 2019 remained in the second position at the end of the CVR exercise. A total of 569,103 completed voter registration was recorded in the state during the continuous registration exercise. With this, Kano, which had 5.45 million voters in 2019 now has a total of 6.02 million.
° Kaduna (4,411,723 registered voters): Kaduna, which was also number 3 in 2019 in terms of number of registered voters also maintained its position in 2022 after the CVR. According to INEC’s data, the State recorded 479,231 completed registrations in the just concluded exercise. This brought its total registered voters to 4.4 million, having had 3.93 million going into the 2019 elections.
° Rivers (3,689,197 registered voters): In 2019, Rivers State had 3.21 million registered voters to emerge as the state with the largest number of voters in the South-South region of the country. The State has added 473,924 registered voters in the CVR and that brought its total register to 3.68 million.
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° Katsina (3,570,740 registered voters): The North-Western Katsina State had 3.2 million registered voters for the 2019 elections to emerge as one of the states with the highest number of voters in Nigeria. Apparently demonstrating the political consciousness of the people of the state, a total of 340,510 people had also registered for voters’ cards in the concluded CVR as of August 1, 2022. This brought the State’s total registered voters to 3.57 million.
° Delta (3,368,791 registered voters): So far in the ongoing CVR, Delta State has recorded the largest number of new voters registration. According to INEC’s data, as of August 1, 2022, a total of 523,517 registrations have been completed by Deltans. With this, the state which had 2.84 million registered voters in 2019, now has 3.36 million registered voters.
° Oyo (3,330,336 registered voters): The South-Western State of Oyo was ahead of Delta in 2019 in terms of registered voters as it had 2.93 million electorates. However, the latter was able to overtake the former through the continuous registration exercise. Notwithstanding, Oyo still emerged as one of the top ten states with the largest number of registered voters at the end of the CVR. The state has added 396,229 registered voters through the exercise, which brought its total figure to 3.33 million.
° Benue (2,832,087 registered voters): From 2.4 million registered voters in 2019, Benue State has been able to shore up its voters’ list through the CVR. At the end of the exercise, the state recorded 351,956 completed new voters registration. The State now has 2.83 million registered voters and is one of the leading states to have such a number as of now.
° Bauchi (2,801,512 registered voters): Close to Benue in terms of registered voters is Bauchi, which racked up 338,669 new registrations to make it one of the ten leading states. These new registrations added to its 2.46 million registered voters in 2019 bringing the State’s electorate number to 2.8 million.
° Anambra (2,761,467 registered voters): The South-Eastern State of Anambra made the cut of the top ten through the CVR. A total of 313,471 new registrations were recorded in the State. For the 2019 elections, Anambra had 2.44 million registered voters, thus the new registrations brought its total number to 2.76 million.
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