Over 3.5M enroll as continuous biometric voter registration begins in Nigeria

Nigeria’s Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) has announced that more than 3.5 million citizens have enrolled on the electoral register in a Continuous biometric Voter Registration (CVR) exercise launched last month.

A statement from the elections management body issued Monday September 8 indicates that of that number, more than 288,000 have already completed the biometric capture phase of the exercise.

Eligible voters are first expected to do an online registration before taking an appointment for biometric capture at designated physical INEC offices.

Nigeria will have general elections in 2027, and INEC is conducting the CVR in consonance with the country’s electoral calendar and operational needs, to allow new registrants get enrolled, and for old ones to make updates to their voter information where necessary.

“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 25 August 2025,” the INEC release reads in part.

It discloses that 48.2 percent of those registered are male, while 51.7 percent are female. Almost 65 percent of all new registrants are aged between 18 and 34 and there is an impressive participation of students so far.

With over 3.5 million registrations in three weeks, INEC appreciates “the positive response of citizens and organisations that have mobilised civic participation for the exercise.”

Those who have pre-registered are being encouraged to go for their biometric capture to enable them get their Permanent Voter Card (PVC). In the last general elections, millions of Nigerians lagged behind in completing the biometric capture phase after pre-registration, forcing deadline extensions.

The electoral body also emphasizes that voter registration is open only to citizens who have attained 18 years of age.

“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 holds in 2027,” the body warns.

Users claim NIN age fraud, NIMC debunks

In a related story from Nigeria, there are reports that some citizens have been paying huge sums of money to illegally change their dates of birth on their National Identification Number (NIN).

The practice is said to be rife in some remote areas of the country’s federal capital territory (Abuja) where oversight is reportedly week, Nairametrics reports.

The outlet quotes some citizens who attest to having paid bribes to officials of the National Identity Management Commission (NIMC) of between 45,000 and 55,000 Naira (US$29 and US$36) to falsify their dates of birth.

These age falsifications are being done to help applicants meet eligibility for certain public service jobs.

Dates of birth modification is allowed by NIMC. There’s an official fee for it, and those seeking that service are expected to use the official procedure.

This is however different from age falsification scenarios as described in the Nairametrics report where applicants bribe their way through unscrupulous agents.

The publication however notes that NIMC has rejected the allegations, describing the claims from those quoted as lies. It quotes the ID authority’s head of corporate communications, Dr Kayode Adegoke, as explaining that such fraud is no longer possible since all modifications are now done entirely online.

Reports of NIN issuance and modification irregularities are recurrent in Nigeria, which has a target to issue at least 59 million NINs in the next year and half.

Article Topics

Africa  |  biometrics  |  digital ID  |  digital identity  |  National Identity Management Commission (NIMC)  |  National Identity Number (NIN)  |  Nigeria  |  voter registration