The Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) has announced that over 3.5 million Nigerians have completed online pre-registration in the ongoing nationwide Continuous Voter Registration exercise.
The update was provided in a press statement issued on Monday by the National Commissioner and Chairman, Information and Voter Education Committee, Sam Olumekun.
“As at Sunday 7th September 2025, a total of 3,544,850 Nigerians have now pre-registered online in three weeks since the commencement of the exercise on 18th August 2025,” the statement read.
INEC revealed that 48.24 per cent of those who registered online are male (1,709,933), while 51.76 per cent are female (1,834,917). The majority of registrants, 2,291,809 or 64.65 per cent, are between the ages of 18 and 34. Students make up 24.89 per cent (882,441) of the total online registrants.
In addition to the online figures, the commission has also begun publishing combined data from both online and physical (in-person) registrations.
According to the statement, “The cumulative figure since the physical (in-person) registration commenced on 25th August 2025 is 288,614 as of Thursday, 4th September 2025 of which 132,634 (45.96 per cent) are male and 155,980 (54.04 per cent) are female.”
Youths between the ages of 18 and 34 continue to dominate participation in the exercise, making up 74.64 per cent (215,414) of the completed registrations, while students account for 39.55 per cent (114,150).
A breakdown by state showed that Osun recorded the highest number of online pre-registrants with 518,635, representing 14.63 per cent of the total. Lagos followed with 440,647 (12.43 per cent), Ogun with 348,217 (9.82 per cent), and Borno with 296,409 (8.36 per cent). Kebbi recorded 193,781 (5.47 per cent), while Kaduna and the Federal Capital Territory (FCT) accounted for 187,480 (5.29 per cent) and 180,260 (5.09 per cent) respectively.
Yobe had 173,731 (4.90 per cent), followed by Kogi with 166,010 (4.68 per cent), Oyo with 160,652 (4.53 per cent), and Kwara with 78,245 (2.21 per cent). Ekiti followed with 74,423 (2.10 per cent), Kano with 66,091 (1.86 per cent), Delta with 62,192 (1.75 per cent), and Imo with 61,341 (1.73 per cent).
Sokoto recorded 54,084 (1.53 per cent), Jigawa 48,285 (1.36 per cent), Bauchi 46,504 (1.31 per cent), Katsina 47,220 (1.33 per cent), and Niger 62,819 (1.77 per cent). Zamfara followed with 32,784 (0.92 per cent), Plateau with 32,000 (0.90 per cent), and Akwa Ibom with 31,081 (0.88 per cent).
Cross River had 22,938 (0.65 per cent), Benue 20,786 (0.59 per cent), Rivers 19,294 (0.54 per cent), and Gombe 18,630 (0.53 per cent). Taraba registered 17,324 (0.49 per cent), Bayelsa 13,374 (0.38 per cent), and Ondo 9,033 (0.25 per cent).
Adamawa recorded 8,849 (0.25 per cent), Edo 7,893 (0.22 per cent), Abia 2,629 (0.07 per cent), Ebonyi 1,616 (0.05 per cent), and Enugu the lowest with 1,203 (0.03 per cent).
The commission commended citizens and civic organisations that have been mobilising voter participation.
The commission reiterated that registration is only open to Nigerian citizens who are at least 18 years old and have not registered previously.
“However, we wish to reiterate that voter registration is only open to citizens who are 18 years or older at the time of registration.
“It is illegal for anyone to encourage underage registration or those below 18 years of age to register in anticipation that they will attain the legal age of voting by the time the general election is held in 2027,” the statement read.
