Section 10
Continuous registration(1) Without prejudice to section 9 (6), there shall be continuous registration of all persons qualified to be registered voters.
(2) Each applicant for registration under the continuous registration system shall appear in person at the registration venue with any of the following documents—
(a) birth certificate;
(b) national passport, identity card or driver’s licence; or
(c) any other document that will prove the identity, age and nationality of the applicant.
(3) The Commission shall, within 60 days after each year, make available to every political party the names and address of each person registered during that year.
(4) When a general election is notified by the Commission under section 28 of this Act, the current official Register of Voters certified by the Commission in accordance with the provisions of this Act shall be the official voters’ register for those elections.
(5) In the case of every bye-election conducted under this Act, the official voters’ register for use at such elections shall be the existing current register relating to the senatorial district or the constituency concerned.
(6) As soon as claims and objections have been dealt with or the period for making claims and objections has expired, the supplementary list shall be included in the revised register, which shall be certified by the Commission as the official Register of Voters for the purpose of any election conducted under this Act and supersedes all previous registers.
This section provides for continuous registration of voters and update of the Voters Register by INEC.
According to the Constitution, all citizens of Nigeria who are 18 years of age are eligible to register to vote. Such persons must present themselves at designated venues of offices of INEC in their respective Local Government Areas (LGA) for inclusion in the Register of Voters. New applicants will be required to show proof of their eligibility to register as voters and will be required to provide their personal details such as name, age, sex, occupation, home address, photographs and thumbprints to the INEC Registration Officer.
The continuous voter registration (CVR) process entails adding of new voters to the register, transfer of registered voters, changing and deleting of registration details, replacement of lost or damaged voters’ cards.
Before 2002, the registration of voters was periodic and took place before elections. This changed after the enactment of the 2006 Electoral Act which required that INEC carry out continuous voters’ registration instead of just periodically i.e., before an election.
The register of voters used to be manually kept. Efforts to digitalize the register began with the 2003 elections, but with challenges. INEC used the Optical Mark Recognition (OMR) technology for Voter Registration, but it did not completely deal with flaws in the register. Over time, INEC has improved its technology.
With improved digitalization of the voters register and the current practice of biometric enrolment of voters, verification of a voter’s inclusion on the register can now be done online.
This section further requires INEC to provide to all registered political parties with the names and addresses of the people that registered during a particular year within 60 days after each year. The purpose of Political parties’ access to voter’s lists is not indicated in the Act even though it can be determined to be for campaign purposes. In some other jurisdictions, the purpose for making the register available is clearly stated with certain personal information kept confidential and a strict requirement that it be used for non-commercial purposes and not be used to target or harass voters.
A compilation of illegal Voters register for use in any election is a criminal act. Only INEC is allowed to compile a valid register of voters for elections in Nigeria.
Buhari v. INEC (2008) 4 NWLR (Pt. 1078) 546The registration of voters is a continuous exercise which means that the register of voters for each election may be different.
See: 2012 Report of The Registration and Election Review Committee (RERC) PP 11-16
Section 114(g) and (h) of the Act which prescribes penalties for persons forging a voter’s card or illegally conducting voter registration
Section 117 of the Act on improper use of voter’s card
Section 119 of the Electoral Act, 2022 on Impersonation and voting when not qualified
