Borno maintains lead as 7.4m complete online voter registration

The Independent National Electoral Commission has announced that a total of 7,415,760 Nigerians have completed their online pre-registration as the Continuous Voter Registration exercise entered its eighth week, covering the period from October 6 to 12, 2025.

The figures, released by INEC on Monday, showed that the online registration portal, which opened on August 18, 2025, continues to witness massive engagement across the country.

According to the update, 3,877,330 of the pre-registrants were female—representing 52.28 per cent—while 3,538,430 were male (47.72 per cent).

Young Nigerians made up the bulk of participants, with 5,095,056 aged between 18 and 34, while 1,873,848 were students. INEC also recorded 168,680 Persons with Disabilities (PWDs) among the pre-registrants.

Borno State maintained its lead with 783,546 completed pre-registrations, the highest in the country.

Osun followed with 632,751, while Lagos placed third with 590,341. Other states with strong participation included Kebbi (557,778), Ogun (489,282), Kaduna (471,375), Kano (388,354), Kogi (341,277), Jigawa (257,981), and Zamfara (256,025).

The Federal Capital Territory recorded 228,020, while Oyo had 218,724. In the North-Central, Katsina and Nasarawa registered 174,244 and 161,918 respectively, followed by Bauchi (159,044), Delta (144,710), and Kwara (131,867).

Other states included Cross River (112,372), Ekiti (107,876), Niger (102,524), Gombe (96,545), Plateau (84,770), Imo (70,069), and Rivers (67,845).

Moderate figures were reported in Adamawa (58,398), Akwa Ibom (57,954), and Taraba (57,001), while Benue and Bayelsa registered 49,262 and 47,041 respectively.

At the lower end of the table were Enugu (19,966), Ondo (17,121), Ebonyi (12,489), and Edo (11,166), with Abia recording the least number of pre-registrations at 6,038.

In a related update, INEC reported that during week seven (October 6–10, 2025), 1,502,733 Nigerians completed both online and physical registration. This comprised 878,715 who finished online pre-registration and 674,018 who completed physical registration.

The gender distribution for that period showed 828,563 females (55.14 per cent) and 674,170 males (44.86 per cent). The youth category remained dominant with 1,106,731 registrants, while 507,097 were students and 21,244 were PWDs.

Until recently, states in the South-West—particularly Osun, Lagos, and Ogun—had consistently topped INEC’s weekly registration charts since the CVR exercise began in August.

However, the latest figures reveal a surge in participation from northern states, especially Borno and Kebbi, following renewed mobilisation campaigns.

Reports indicate that community-based organisations, religious leaders, and local government officials in several northern states have intensified sensitisation drives to boost voter awareness and encourage eligible citizens to register ahead of the 2027 general elections. (Punch)