Section 9
National Register of Voters and voters’ registration.(1) The Commission shall compile, maintain, and update, on a continuous basis, a National Register of Voters (in this Act referred to as “the Register of Voters”) which shall include the names of all persons—
(a) entitled to vote in any Federal, State, Local Government or Federal Capital Territory Area Council election; and
(b) with disability status disaggregated by type of disability.
(2) The Commission shall keep the Register of Voters in its National Headquarters and other locations as the Commission may determine: Provided that the Commission shall keep the Register of Voters in—
(a) electronic format in its central database; and
(b) manual, printed, paper-based record or hard copy format.
(3) The Commission shall maintain as part of the Register of Voters, a register of voters for each State of the Federation and for the Federal Capital Territory.
(4) The Commission shall maintain as part of the Register of Voters for each State and the Federal Capital Territory, a Register of Voters for each Local Government or Area Council within the State and the Federal Capital Territory.
(5) The Register of Voters shall contain, in respect of each person, the particulars required in the Form prescribed by the Commission.
(6) The registration of voters, updating and revision of the Register of Voters under this section shall stop not later than 90 days before any election covered by this Act.
(7) The registration of voters shall be at the registration centers designated for that purpose by the Commission and notified to the public.
This section of the Act provides for the establishment of a National Register of Voters with disaggregated data.
INEC must also maintain a Register of Voters for each State of the Federation and the FCT, and for each Local Government or Area Council within each State and the FCT.
Political participation through the right to vote is a fundamental right guaranteed in democratic governments. This means that eligible citizens have access to the political process through the exercise of the right to vote.
Voter registration is the identification of persons who are eligible to vote in an election and the compilation of a list of all such persons in a Register of Voters. This follows from Paragraph 15, Part 1 of the Third Schedule to the 1999 Constitution which empowers INEC to register persons qualified to vote, and to maintain and revise the register of voters for the purpose of any election.
Voter registration ensures that only those who are legally qualified can register to vote. It also provides critical voters data and information and promotes the credibility of the process.
Revision of the Voters Register enables INEC to clean up the register via correction to details of voters, which are made upon request e.g., or persons who have married and changed names, and also, to delete from the Register of Voters the names of persons who are not meant to be on the list, such as deceased persons.
This section takes into cognizance the diversity of Nigerian voters by mandating that data is disaggregated according to disabilities if any. New subsection 1(b) mandates INEC to capture the disability status of voters and disaggregate the data by type of disability. Even though this had been practiced by INEC, the 2022 Act now makes it a legal requirement.
The 2022 Act also introduces subsection 2(a) which mandates INEC to keep an electronic register of voters in addition to manual or hard copies in its central database.
It also enlarges the timeframe for conclusion of voters’ registration which is now 90 days to an election. The repealed Act allowed for voter registration up to 30 days to an election.
The Independent National Electoral Commission as a statutory body with power to prepare and maintain a register of voters for the purpose of elections must also have the collateral power to ensure that the register of voters does not have errors or impurities. When INEC makes such corrections to remove errors and impurities, it does not amount to a revision or an update of the register.
