One week since the announced date of release and almost a month to the elections, Nigeria’s voter register has only been made available to leaders of political parties.

On January 2, Festus Okoye, the National Commissioner and Chairman, Information and Voter Education Committee, assured Nigerians on national TV that the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC), would present a voter register that Nigerians would be proud of.

Okoye also stated that the sanitised comprehensive register would be published on January 16.

The register is, however, yet to be published, and how Nigerians are to make their assessment of this register they will be proud of is still uncertain.

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On January 12, Mahmood Yakubu, the commission’s chairman, stated that the register would be displayed on the INEC website and social media shortly. No specific dates were slated for publication.

INEC keeps reiterating its readiness for the elections, and while its recent application of technological innovations are a leap from its previous electoral conduct, assessment of its performance throughout the electoral process ranks poorly.

Before the continuous voter registration began in June 2021, the commission stated that it had acquired all equipment required to conduct the exercise, and that no eligible citizen would be disenfranchised.

However, in the last lap of registrations, when more people became interested in the electoral process and voter registration surged, INEC’s inefficiencies became exposed.

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Some of the commission’s centres had only three to four registration machines, and as more people became interested in the process, the commission became overwhelmed, leaving several citizens disenfranchised.

With less than a month to the election, voters have yet to see the cleaned-up voter list. According to INEC’s communication with political leaders on January 12, the 93,469,008 voters’ register is ready. So, the delay in publishing the register raises the possibility that citizens will not have enough time to thoroughly vet the sanitised register in time for the upcoming elections.