The South West has recorded the highest figures in the first week of the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) online voter pre-registration exercise, accounting for more than 61 per cent of the 1,379,342 applications received between August 18 and 24, 2025.
This was revealed as the commission commenced the physical registration stage on Monday, August 25, 2025.
According to figures released by the commission on Monday, Osun State recorded the highest number of pre-registrations with 393,269, followed by Lagos (222,205) and Ogun (132,823).
Oyo recorded 66,951, while Ekiti registered 29,685, and Ondo had 3,426. Collectively, the South West accounted for 848,359 pre-registrations.
The South South came a distant second with 169,377 applications, while the South East recorded 64,696, the lowest among the six geopolitical zones.
The document revealed that Anambra’s 62,698 registrations heavily skewed South East’s tally, while other states in the region, Abia (772), Ebonyi (261), Enugu (484) and Imo (481) recorded extremely low numbers.These figures are among the lowest nationwide, in contrast with the massive turnout in Osun, Lagos, and Ogun.
In the North, the North Central zone, including the Federal Capital Territory (FCT), led with 243,768 pre-registrations, driven largely by the FCT’s 107,682 and Kogi’s 58,546.
The North West recorded 145,490, while the North East emerged as the least-performing zone in the region with 77,652 pre-registrations, representing just 5.6 per cent of the national total.
The data indicated that southern Nigeria accounted for 66.2 per cent (912,432) of the registrations, while the North recorded 33.8 per cent (466,910).The demographic breakdown shows that youths aged 18–34 years made up the majority with 62.37 per cent (860,286) of pre-registrants.
Middle-aged voters (35–49 years) followed with 24.76 per cent, while elderly (50–69 years) accounted for 11.41 per cent, and those aged 70 and above represented only 1.46 per cent.Gender distribution revealed that women slightly outnumbered men at 52.04 per cent (717,856) compared to 47.96 per cent (661,486).
Students were the single largest occupational group with 27.15 per cent (374,534), followed by business persons at 24.82 per cent (342,363) and traders at 11.68 per cent (161,137).
Artisans accounted for 10.12 per cent, while farmers and fishers represented 9.23 per cent. Civil servants and public servants collectively made up less than five per cent.
The current figures, however, reflected online and initial registrations only as applicants are required to complete their registration at designated INEC physical registration centres before they can be added to the official voter register.
INEC said the physical CVR is taking place at 811 centres across the country, including all 774 Local Government Area offices and State offices, from 9 a.m. to 3 p.m., Monday to Friday.