Youths, farmers top list as INEC releases new voter register

The final list of registered voters to cast their ballots in the 2023 general elections released by the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC), on Wednesday, shows that Nigerian youths, farmers and fishermen, make up a large percentage of eligible voters.

According to the list released by INEC Chairman, Mahmood Yakubu at the INEC headquarters in Abuja, out of a cumulative total of 93,469,008 registered voters, 37,060,399 or 39.65% are youths between the ages of 18 and 34.

This constitutes the largest category, with students at 26,027,481 or 27.8%, making up all registered voters, while 14,742,554, registered voters are farmers and fishermen, making up 15.8%, with 13,006,939 or 13.9%, being housewives.

According to the figures released by the commission, the North-West geopolitical zone once again, tops the list of highest number of registered voters with 22,255,562, which shows an increase of over 2 million voters from the 2019 elections where the North-West had 20.15m voters.

READ ALSO:INEC meets 18 political parties, presents voter register ahead of 2023 elections

The South-West now has 17,958,966, from the 16,292,212 in 2019, having added 1,666,754 new registered voters, and the North-Central now has 15,363,731 registered voters from
13,366,070 registered voters in 2019.

The electoral body’s figures also show that the South-South has 14,440,714 registered voters from 12,841,279 registered voters in 2019 while the North-East came up with 12,542,429 up from 11,289,293 voters it had in 2019, just as the South-East propped up to 10,907,606 up from 10,057,130 registered voters in 2019.

The list also showed that in the cumulative registration figure, 49,054,162 or 52.5%, are male while 44,414,846 (47.5%) are female.

The age distribution demographic shows that 37,060,399 (39.65%) are youths between the ages of 18 and 34; 33,413,591 (35.75%) are middle-aged persons between the ages of 35 and 49, while 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.

A further breakdown by states shows that Lagos has the highest number of registered voters with 7,060,195, followed by Kano with 5,921,370 and Kaduna, 4,335,208.

Others include Abia, 2,120,808; Adamawa, 2,196,566; Akwa-Ibom, 2,357,418; Anambra, 2,656,437; Bauchi, 2,749,268; Bayelsa, 1,056,862; Benue, 2,777,727; Borno, 2,513,281; Cross River 1,766,466; Delta, 3,221,697; Ebonyi, 1,597,646; Edo, 2,501,081; Ekiti, 987,647; Enugu, 2,112,793; FCT, 1,570,307; Gombe, 1,575,794 and Imo, 2,419,922.

The total number of registered voters in other states include Jigawa, 2,351,298; Katsina, 3,516,719; Kebbi, 2,032,041; Kogi, 1,932,654; Kwara 1,695,927; Nasarawa, 1,899,244; Niger, 2,698,344; Ogun, 2,688,305; Ondo, 1,991,344; Osun, 1,954,800; Oyo, 3,276,675; Plateau, 2,789,528; Rivers, 3,537,190; Sokoto, 2,172,056; Taraba, 2,022,374; Yobe,1,485,146; and Zamfara, 1,926,870.

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