The Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) announced that as of December 2022, 7,746 deceased voters had been removed from the national voter register across the 36 states and the Federal Capital Territory (FCT).
INEC’s Director of Voter Education and Publicity, Victoria Etta-Messi, shared this during an interview with Punch 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,” she confirmed. INEC noted that such cleanups are routinely carried out to uphold the integrity of the voter register ahead of general elections.
Despite these efforts, INEC pointed out ongoing challenges in identifying and removing deceased voters due to the absence of comprehensive official death records.
“Difficulties with official death records remain a significant obstacle for INEC in removing deceased registrants,” the commission explained in its 2023 post-general election review conducted in December 2024.
According to reports, the review revealed that while 12,298,944 new voters were added during the registration exercise, 2,780,756 cases of invalid registrations—amounting to 22.6%—were detected and removed using the Automated Biometric Identification System.
INEC also expressed concern over declining voter turnout. The 2023 presidential and National Assembly elections recorded a turnout of just 27.5%, down from 35.6% in 2019.
Some stakeholders have linked the decline to an inflated voter register, stressing the need for more robust cleanup efforts.
During the post-election review, stakeholders proposed stronger collaboration between INEC and agencies such as the National Population Commission (NPC) and the National Identity Management Commission (NIMC) to identify deceased voters.
“Enhanced partnerships with agencies like NPC and NIMC were recommended to improve the accuracy of the voter register,” INEC reported. There was also a suggestion to suspend voters who had not participated in the last three election cycles, requiring them to revalidate their registration to remain on the register.
