Women lead as 3.5 million new eligible voters register with INEC

David Ezeugoh, in Abuja

More than 3.5 million Nigerians have registered online to become voters in just three weeks since the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) commenced the nationwide voter registration exercise.

In a press release by INEC, the commission said 3,544,850 people have completed online pre-registration since the exercise began on August 18, 2025.

The figures show that more women are registering to vote, with 1,834,917 (51.76%) female registrants compared to 1,709,933 (48.24%) male registrants during the three-week period.

Young Nigerians are leading the registration drive, as 2,291,809 people (64.65%) who registered are between ages 18 and 34. Students make up the largest group by occupation, with 882,441 (24.89%) of all online registrants.

The commission also reported that 288,614 people have completed their physical registration at various centres across the country since in-person registration started on August 25, 2025.

Among those who completed physical registration, women also outnumber men with 155,980 (54.04%) females and 132,634 (45.96%) males. Young people aged 18-34 represent 215,414 (74.64%) of completed registrations.

Students again lead by occupation in physical registration, making up 114,150 (39.55%) of those who have completed the process at registration centres.

The detailed breakdowns of registration numbers by state, gender, age, occupation, and disability status have been published on the INEC website for public consumption.