2023: Youth Top Voting Population -INEC
BY OKECHUKWU OBETA, Awka, 7/1/2023
The Independent National Electoral Commission, INEC, has disclosed that the youth constitute the highest number of registered voters who will cast votes in the 2023 general election.
INEC National Commissioner in charge of Information and Voter Education Committee, Mr. Festus Okoye, disclosed this in Awka, Anambra State, on Saturday, 7th January, 2023, during the Commission’s engagement with identified youth groups on the roles of youth ahead of the 2023 general election.
He made it clear that from INEC’s records, the youth hold the ace for the determination of the outcome of the 2023 general election.
The INEC Information and Voter Education Commissioner further informed that out a total of 9,518,756 valid newly registered voters between June 28, 2021 and July 31, 2022, those aged between 18 and 34 years old were 7,286,871 representing 76.56 percent.
Okoye also disclosed that the total number of registered voters for the 2023 general election is 93.5 million, adding that out of the 84 million registered voters recorded for the 2019 general election, the youth population which included male and female was 51 percent.
He urged the youth to ensure that they cast their votes on the election days, noting that it is only when they cast their votes, that they can determine who emerges as the eventual winner and leader.
Okoye also revealed that the Commission had already taken delivery of the full number of the Bimodal Voter’s Accreditation System, BVAS, for the conduct of the election in the 176,846 polling units across the country, pointing out that additional BVAS for contingencies would be deployed to the 8,809 Registration Areas across the country.
According to him, the BVAS were designed to function offline, and, only accredited voters would be allowed to cast votes on the election days.
The INEC National Commissioner made it clear that only registered voters who present their Permanent Voters Cards, PVCs, at the polling unit would be accredited to vote, and, dismissed the rumour that any registered voter would be eligible to vote even if the person does not present his or her PVC at the polling unit on the election day.
Okoye disclosed further that over 1.4million ad-hoc election staff had been engaged by the Commission for the conduct of the 2023 general election, and, had secured insurance policy for them against hazards of the election, especially possible attack.
He warned that punishment for any act of electoral offence against electoral officers have been made stiffer in the current 2022 Electoral Act (as amended) than the provisions in the previous 2010 Electoral Act (as amended).
Okoye, therefore, advised any ad-hoc staff who might not be ready to resist the temptations of election rigging antics to withdraw from conducting the exercise.
He made it clear that the 2023 electoral processes would be strictly technology -driven, and that the Commission had already deployed technology to all its processes.
Earlier, the Resident Electoral Commissioner, REC, in charge of Anambra state, Dr. Mrs Queen Elizabeth Agwu, urged the youth to brace to the challenges of ensuring that the election was conducted free of thuggery and any other electoral malpractices.
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