Reported by: Oahimire Omone Precious | Edited by: Oravbiere Osayomore Promise.
The Independent National Electoral Commission has announced that 3,867,997 Nigerians successfully completed the online and physical registration process in the eleventh week of Phase III of the Continuous Voter Registration exercise ahead of the 2027 general elections. According to figures released by the commission on Wednesday, July 29, 2026, women accounted for the majority of new registrants, with 2,037,589 registrations, representing 52.68 per cent of the total. Male registrants stood at 1,830,408, representing 47.32 per cent.
The Phase III exercise, which concluded on Sunday, July 26, 2026, was the final leg of INEC’s year-long voter registration drive. The commission disclosed that 1,170,134 registrations were completed online, while 2,697,863 were carried out at physical registration centres across the country, meaning nearly 70 per cent of all completed registrations were through the traditional in-person method.
Youths aged between 18 and 34 dominated the exercise, accounting for 2,602,960 registrants, or 67.29 per cent of the total. Those aged 35 to 49 years recorded 843,757 registrations, while 386,095 registrants were between 50 and 69 years. Citizens aged 70 years and above accounted for 35,185 registrations. On occupational distribution, students formed the largest category of registrants with 892,946 registrations, followed by businesspersons with 810,452. Other groups included farmers and fishers (649,358), housewives (640,569), artisans (204,660), traders (175,206), civil servants (97,328) and public servants (65,114).
INEC further reported that 41,092 persons with disabilities completed registration during the exercise. Of this figure, 20,601 were classified under the “Others” category, while 7,038 persons had albinism. The commission also recorded registrations from persons who are blind, deaf, autistic, physically challenged, of little stature, living with Down syndrome, spinal cord injuries and cognitive learning disabilities.
A state-by-state breakdown showed that Kano recorded the highest number of completed registrations with 330,906, representing 8.55 per cent of the nationwide total. Lagos State followed with 181,254 registrations (4.69 per cent), while Delta State ranked third with 166,895 registrations (4.31 per cent). Edo State registered 156,150 voters, while Sokoto State recorded 145,160. Other states with high registration figures include Ebonyi (146,507), Taraba (141,649), Ogun (136,921), Bauchi (128,753), Jigawa (125,155), and Oyo (125,144). At the lower end of the chart, Ekiti State recorded 2,276 completed registrations, while Ondo State registered 23,824. Plateau State had 41,993 completed registrations, and the Federal Capital Territory recorded 56,285.
The commission noted that Osun State recorded no registrations during the period because the Continuous Voter Registration exercise was suspended ahead of the forthcoming governorship election, in line with Section 9(6) of the Electoral Act 2022. INEC stated that the registration figures are preliminary and will be subjected to data clean-up, claims and objections by citizens, as well as verification through the Automated Biometric Identification System before the final voter register is produced.
When combined with the first and second phases of the CVR exercise, the cumulative total of new registrations across all three phases now stands at approximately 10,188,755. In the first phase, about 2,572,054 voters completed their registration, while 3,748,704 voters were added at the end of the second phase. With Nigeria currently having over 93 million registered voters, INEC will now embark on a de-duplication process for the over 10 million fresh registrants in order to remove multiple registrants before adding the cleaned figure to the National Register of Voters.
The final voter register is expected to exceed 100 million ahead of the 2027 general elections, rising from the 93,469,008 used for the 2023 general election to about 103.9 million. INEC has also commenced the clean-up of its voter registration database following the conclusion of the nationwide CVR exercise on July 26. The electoral body has reaffirmed its commitment to ensuring a credible electoral process and urged eligible Nigerians to participate actively in future voter registration exercises.
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