Chuks Okocha in Abuja
The Executive Director of Yiaga Africa, Samson Itodo, has raised a critical poser over the voters’ checklist launched by the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC), asking whether or not the fee intentionally diminished the variety of younger individuals’ capability to vote.
In an announcement made accessible to THISDAY yesterday, Itodo raised a query on the declining variety of younger voters.
According to Itodo, who in contrast the share of younger individuals within the 2023 voters register, mentioned: ‘’The current voter registration figures launched by INEC have raised necessary questions concerning the declining variety of younger individuals on Nigeria’s voter register.
Let’s take a look at what the information tells us.
According to INEC, Nigeria had 93,469,008 registered voters in 2023, distributed throughout 4 age classes: Youth: 18–34 years: 37,060,399 (39.6%); Middle age: 35–49 years: 33,413,591 (35.8%), and Elderly: 50–69 years: 17,700,270 (18.9%), whereas 70 years and above: 5,294,748 (5.7%).’’
Continuing, Itodo mentioned: ‘’The 2026 figures present that the voter register has elevated to 103,428,715 registered voters, representing a rise of 9,959,707 voters, or 10.66 p.c in contrast with the 11.27 p.c enhance recorded in 2023.
The 2026 age distribution is as follows: Youth: 18–34 years: 29,777,578 (28.79%);
Middle age: 35–49 years: 43,265,946 (41.83%); Elderly: 50–69 years: 22,982,900 (22.22%), whereas 70 years and above bought 7,402,291 (7.16%).’’
Accordingly, the Executive Director of Yiaga Africa mentioned: ‘’What do these figures inform us? While the general voter register determine for 2026 elevated by 10.66 p.c, the variety of registered voters aged 18–34 declined by 7,282,821, representing a 19.65 p.c discount on this age class. Their share of the register additionally declined from 39.6 p.c in 2023 to twenty-eight.79 p.c in 2026, a lower of roughly 10.9 proportion factors.
“The variety of registered voters aged 35 to 49 elevated by 9,852,355, representing a rise of roughly 29.5%.’’
Then, Itodo requested: ‘’Does this imply younger individuals were faraway from the register? Not essentially. Between 2023 and 2026, three years elapsed. Voters who were aged 32, 33, and 34 in 2023 would have transitioned into the 35–49 age class by 2026. This demographic shift might partially clarify the decline within the youth class and the rise within the older age class.
However, ageing alone doesn’t totally account for these modifications. It can also be crucial to look at new additions to the register, notably the speed of youth registration, and any administrative changes.’’
Accordingly, he mentioned: ‘’This raises a essential query: Are younger Nigerians registering to vote at a fee adequate to interchange those that are ageing out of the youth class?
‘’For historic perspective, Nigeria’s voter register elevated from 68,833,476 in 2015 to 84,004,084 in 2019, representing a 22.04 p.c enhance. Between 2019 and 2023, the register grew to 93,469,008, a rise of 9,464,924 voters (11.27%). By 2026, it had risen additional to 103,428,715, representing an extra 9,959,707 voters (10.66%).
Although absolutely the enhance between 2023 and 2026 was barely larger than that recorded between 2019 and 2023, the share development was marginally decrease. These figures exhibit a declining fee of development in Nigeria’s voter register: 22.04 p.c in 2015–2019, 11.27 p.c in 2019–2023, and 10.66 p.c in 2023–2026. The most up-to-date interval, nevertheless, covers three years reasonably than 4.
‘’The essential challenge, due to this fact, just isn’t merely whether or not the voter register is rising, however who’s getting into the register, how voters are transitioning between age classes, and what these demographic modifications imply.’’
Itodo then challenged INEC, saying: ‘’My proposal to INEC is to publish an in depth age-cohort evaluation explaining modifications between the 2015, 2019, 2023 and 2026 registers, together with new registrations, age transitions, elimination of useless and unqualified individuals on the register and different changes.
‘’If the decline exhibits insufficient registration amongst newly eligible younger voters, it should immediate elevated funding in youth mobilization for voter registration. If it displays administrative changes, these modifications should be clearly documented and defined,’’ he acknowledged.
