By EMMANUEL OLONIRUHA

The Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) says 203,497 eligible Nigerians had completed online pre-registration as fresh voters, seven days after the commencement of the exercise.

Mr Festus Okoye, INEC’s National Commissioner and Chairman, Information and Voter Education Committee, disclosed this in an update on the CVR issued on Tuesday, in Abuja.

He said that the figure was recorded as at 7a.m on July 5, as the commission met on Tuesday to discuss the CVR exercise, which commenced on June 28.

“As at 7a.m on July 5, one week after the commencement of the exercise, 203,497 eligible Nigerians have completed the online pre-registration as fresh voters.

“The figure rises to 259,713 if applications for voter transfer, requests for replacement of Permanent Voters’ Cards (PVCs), update of voter information record are included”, Okoye said.

The News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) reports that of the 203,497 applications received, Osun state had the highest figure of freshly registered voters with 67,772 applications, followed by Lagos with 30,338 and FCT with 12,160.

States with the least fresh voter applications, within the period, were Ebonyi with 350, Kebbi 624, Abia 626 and Jigawa with 679.

NAN also reports that the distribution of the figure by gender, according to INEC, had indicated that of the total registered, males constituted 166, 712 of the number while 93,001 were female.

The age distribution for the first week also showed that the number of newly registered youth (18 to 34 years) was 175,8047; middle age (34 to 49 years) is 64,141; the elderly ( 50 to 69 years) is 17,644; while the old (70 years and above) was 2,079.

The occupation distribution included artisans-15,414; Business-44,478; civil servants-11,022; farming/fishing-7,720 housewives-2,516, traders-18,865; public servants-7,269; students-66,143 and others-83,283.

In the meantime, Okoye stated that the full details of the exercise for the first one week had been uploaded on the Commission’s website and social media platforms.

“For emphasis, the physical or in-person registration is scheduled to commence in all our state and local government offices nationwide on Monday, July 19.

“Eligible Nigerians who wish to register physically and those who have scheduled their appointments to complete their online pre-registration will have the opportunity to do so.

“Both online pre-registration and the physical registration will go on simultaneously, throughout the duration of the CVR.

“Further details of the schedule of activities and locations for the physical exercise will be made available next week,” he added.

He urged every eligible Nigerian to seize the opportunity of the online pre-registration or the in-person option to register as a voter, saying that the update was inline with the commission’s promise to update Nigerians after one week of the exercise.

Henceforth, INEC would be providing weekly updates that would include a detailed breakdown of the distribution of registrants by State, occupation, gender and age, Okoye said. (NAN)

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