The Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) recently revealed the removal of 7,746 deceased voters from the national voter register. This update covers 36 states and the Federal Capital Territory (FCT) as of December 2022. The announcement was made by the Director of Voter Education and Publicity, Victoria Etta-Messi, during a briefing on Thursday.
“Seven thousand, seven hundred and forty-six deceased persons across the 36 states and the FCT were removed from the National Register of voters as of December 2022,” Etta-Messi confirmed.
INEC’s Voter Register Clean-up Process
INEC conducts a thorough cleanup of the voter register before every general election. This ongoing process is designed to maintain the integrity of the electoral system. Despite these efforts, challenges remain, particularly when it comes to removing deceased persons from the register.
In its post-general election review of 2023, INEC highlighted several obstacles to the voter register cleanup. This included difficulties in identifying deceased voters, due to gaps in official death records.
Challenges with Official Death Records
According to INEC, the absence of comprehensive death records has complicated efforts to remove deceased registrants. The Commission stated, “Problems with official death records continue to make it very difficult for INEC to remove deceased registrants.”
INEC Addresses Double Registrations
In addition to deceased voters, INEC also faced challenges with double or multiple registrations. To tackle this issue, INEC deployed the Automated Biometric Identification System (ABIS). This system successfully flagged and removed 2,780,756 cases of invalid registrations, which represented 22.6 percent of all new registrants nationwide.
Declining Voter Turnout Concerns
INEC further expressed concerns regarding declining voter turnout. In the 2023 presidential and National Assembly elections, voter turnout dropped to 27.5 percent, down from 35.6 percent in the 2019 elections. Some stakeholders suggested that an inflated voter register might have contributed to this decline.
Calls for Enhanced Collaboration and Measures
Following the review, stakeholders recommended that INEC strengthen its collaboration with agencies like the National Population Commission (NPC) and the National Identity Management Commission (NIMC) to help identify and remove deceased voters. The review also suggested suspending voters who have not participated in the past three elections, requiring them to revalidate their registration.
As INEC continues its efforts to clean up the voter register, these recommendations reflect ongoing efforts to enhance the integrity of Nigeria’s electoral process.
