PVC: Over 200,000 Nigerians register in 1 week

203,497 people have pre-registered online in a bid to acquire their permanent voter card (PVC) ahead of the 2023 general elections.

The Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) launched an online portal last week for Nigerians to commence the registration process ahead of a full physical registration exercise set to commence on July 19, 2021.

Statistics released by INEC on Monday, July 5 showed that the highest number of applicants have registered from Osun State with 67,772 total applications.

This is followed by Lagos from where 30,338 applications were submitted since the portal opened, followed by the Federal Capital Territory (FCT) with 12,160 applications.

In contrast to the south, many states in the northern region registered very low number of applications with 624 in Kebbi the lowest, 825 in Zamfara, 899 in Yobe, and 990 in Gombe.

Applications submitted for PVC in all 36 states and the FCT [INEC] Pulse Nigeria

A total of 259,713 people have used the portal in the past week, a figure that also includes applications submitted by people who are requesting voter transfer, replacement of PVC, or update of voter information record.

Youths between the ages of 18 and 34 were the most represented demographic with 175,849 applications, followed by 64,141 applications by middle aged people between the ages of 35 and 49.

Elderly people between the ages of 50 and 69 submitted 17,644 applications, and old people 70 years old and above submitted 2,079 applications.

Nigeria currently has over 84 million registered voters, and INEC is targeting the registration of at least 20 million new ones by the time the exercise is suspended in September 2022.