25th February 2023 has been set as the date for the General elections in Nigeria yet millions of eligible voters are not yet registered, but INEC has stopped accepting registration of voters in the 31st if July, 2022. The INEC act permits the Commission to stop the CVR exercise 90 days before the polls. INEC has however stopped the registration of voters 6 months to the poll.

As of today the 5th August 2022 thousands of eligible voters are still seen thronging the Voters registration centers and the portal for the continuous voters registration is no longer accessible for new registrations. People are still very much interested in registering to vote, as seen from INECs records indicating that over 1.3 million new registration was received in only the last week of July before it ended the registration.

My concern is geared as a youth whose advocacy for my peers to register and vote in the elections, has garnered significant interests, which may now amount to nothing if INEC refuses to continue the voters registration until the 90 days provided for them to stop registration. I'm also concerned about all the youths that will still turn 18years old between now and November 2022, yet will not be able to vote because the Regis have stopped. 

INEC has stated that it's reasons for stopping the registration this early is to allow them some time to process and issue the voters cards. However, this reason is not commensurate enough to its effect in disenfranchising millions of prospective voters. INEC can expand its Infrastructure and staff pool to service the need of diligent taxpayers.

My take is therefore that INEC keeps the voters registration ongoing and alongside this creates an innovative way to capture more voters through integrating it's database with the National Identity Number database and the Bank Verification Number Database, both of which are bio identity systems, to  synchronise their bio information database of INEC with BVN and NIN. After this INEC can note it's registered voters and establish the  non-registered but eligible for voting, to create new voters registration profile which can aid the faster provision of voters cards.

Please sign the petition to support the extension if the voters registration date till November 2023, and also the leverage on the BVN and NIN Database to create more voters registration.