INEC Removes 7,746 Deceased Voters from Register

The Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) has announced the removal of 7,746 deceased individuals from the national voter register across Nigeria’s 36 states and the Federal Capital Territory as of December 2022. Victoria Etta-Messi, INEC’s Director of Voter Education and Publicity, disclosed this, emphasizing that such cleanups are conducted before every general election. Despite improvements in the voter registration process, which added 12,298,944 new registrants in 2023, challenges persist, particularly with the removal of deceased voters due to inadequate death records. INEC also addressed issues of multiple registrations through the Automated Biometric Identification System, which identified and eliminated 2,780,756 invalid entries, representing 22.6% of all new registrations. Declining voter turnout remains a concern, with the 2023 elections recording a 27.5% turnout compared to 35.6% in 2019. Stakeholders attributed part of this decline to inaccuracies in the voter register and urged INEC to enhance its collaboration with agencies like the National Population Commission (NPC) and the National Identity Management Commission (NIMC) for better data verification. Recommendations from the post-election review included suspending individuals who have not voted in the last three elections and requiring them to revalidate their registration.