The Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) has announced the removal of 7,746 deceased voters from the national voter register across the 36 states and the Federal Capital Territory as of December 2022.
INEC’s Director of Voter Education and Publicity, Victoria Etta-Messi, disclosed this in a statement on Thursday, explaining that the cleanup is part of the commission’s routine process ahead of general elections.
“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,” she stated.
Despite these efforts, INEC highlighted the persistent challenge of maintaining an accurate voter register due to difficulties in obtaining reliable official death records.
Post-Election Review Findings
In its 2023 post-general election review conducted in December 2024, INEC identified ongoing challenges with cleaning the voter register. While 12,298,944 new voters were added during the voter registration process, significant issues such as deceased persons remaining on the register and cases of double or multiple registrations persisted.
To address invalid registrations, INEC deployed the Automated Biometric Identification System, which detected and removed 2,780,756 cases, accounting for 22.6% of all new registrants.
INEC also expressed concern over declining voter turnout. The 2023 presidential and National Assembly elections recorded a turnout of 27.5%, a drop from 35.6% in 2019. Some stakeholders attributed this to an inflated voter register and called for more robust cleanup measures.
Stakeholders recommended strengthening partnerships with agencies like the National Population Commission (NPC) and the National Identity Management Commission (NIMC) to identify and remove deceased voters from the register.
They also suggested suspending individuals who have not participated in the last three elections and requiring them to revalidate their voter registration.
“Strengthened collaboration with NPC and NIMC is essential for accurate identification of deceased persons in the voter register. Additionally, requiring revalidation for those who have not voted in three consecutive elections could improve the register’s accuracy,” INEC noted in its review.
