2027: Why youth share of voters dropped – INEC

….As UniJos wins campus debate finale

By Omeiza Ajayi

ABUJA: The Independent National Electoral Commission INEC has explained why youths now make up 29.79 per cent of the voters’ register being prepared for the 2027 general election, down from 39.65 per cent in the 2023 register.

Chairman of the commission, Prof. Joash Amupitan SAN, gave the explanation on Tuesday at the grand finale of the INEC Campus Debate at the Law Theatre of the University of Abuja.

He said the drop does not mean fewer young people are interested in elections, but that many who counted as youths in 2023 have simply grown older.

“Some questions have been asked, why has the number reduced compared to what we have in 2023? But the truth of the matter is that there has been progressive migration of the categories of persons that were youth in 2023, they have now migrated into different age groups”, Amupitan explained.

He said the register, “which is currently being reviewed through claims and objection,” puts youth representation at 29.79 per cent. The 2023 register had 37,060,399 youths aged 18 to 34, or 39.65 per cent of the 93.4 million registered voters.

Amupitan said the debate was part of the commission’s effort to confront voter apathy among young people. “Our plan is to catch them young,” he said.

He said earlier outings showed how little many young people know about the electoral process. “When they ask who is the INEC chairman, unfortunately none of them could get it,” he said.

The University of Jos won the final, which was held under the theme “Nigeria’s Electoral Process and Democracy.” Bayero University, Kano, came second, the University of Ibadan third, and the University of Nigeria, Nsukka, fourth.

Amupitan, who is a University of Jos alumnus, said the judges’ decision could not be faulted. “From the quality of the debate, it was, honestly, it could go either way and they have done justice to it,” he said.

He said the judges took a long time to compute the scores. “They were also trying to use technology with their phone making some computations and arithmetics just to ensure that there is accurate delivery,” he said.

Amupitan said the result was so clear that no debater or university should think of going to court. “It will be needless for any of the parties or debaters to think of going to court. So that is why we are not establishing any election petition, any tribunal to review what has been done,” he said light-heartedly.

He also told the Director of Voter Education and Publicity to keep track of the finalists, saying he would have employed them immediately if the law allowed.

“They are not qualified to have been given automatic employment, if not I will have done that by now,” he said. He added that they must first graduate and complete the National Youth Service Corps NYSC.

He noted that a debater from Bayero University, Kano, studies medicine, while the two debaters from the University of Jos study law.

The INEC chairman told the audience that elections under his watch have shown improvement. “I am just one year 10 days in office,” he said, adding that the commission had conducted four off-cycle elections: the Anambra governorship election, the Federal Capital Territory (FCT) area council elections in February, the Ekiti governorship election in June and the Osun governorship election in August.

“Go back to history, Anambra election and Osun election used to be inconclusive. But under our watch, we have ensured to a large extent that those elections are conclusive”, he said.

On women’s participation, he said the commission has a gender and inclusivity department. He noted that Belgium requires equality in the occupation of political offices, “but we don’t have such a law in Nigeria yet.”

To the finalists, he said: “You have spoken with conviction, with candor and with discipline.”

The Vice Chancellor of the University of Abuja, Professor Hakeem Babatunde Fawehinmi, urged young Nigerians to collect their voter cards, turn out to vote and hold leaders accountable.

He commended INEC for the initiative and said debate teaches young people to manage disagreement. “It can be argued that debate is the opposite of violence,” he said.