THE Independent National Electoral Commission has rescheduled the physical registration of voters earlier slated for July 19 to July 26.

“The physical registration of voters will now commence on Monday 26 July 2021. Online registrants that have scheduled appointments from 19th July 2021 to 23rd July 2021 will have their appointments rescheduled,” said INEC Chairman on Information and Voter Education Committee Festus Okoye in a statement on Wednesday.

Okoye said that the postponement was due to the Federal Government’s declaration of July 20 and July 21 as public holidays.

The commission assured that no eligible Nigerians would be left out in the continuous voters’ registration which, according to Okoye, had been designed to last for a year.

“It is important to emphasise that this Continuous Voter Registration will take place over a period of one year. The Commission assures all Nigerians that no citizen eligible to register as a voter will be left behind.”

He said about 542,576 persons had already registered on its online portal which it launched on June 28 for voters to input and edit their information before they could complete the physical registration at designated centres across the country.

Sixty-six per cent of these figures, the commission said, were youths between the ages of 18 and 34.

“Out of 542,576 online registrants so far, 356,777 (or 66%) are young people between the ages of 18 and 34 years. This is followed by 134,719 middle-aged registrants who fall between 35 and 49 years. The third category is elderly persons aged between 50 and 69 years of which 44,896 Nigerians have registered,” Okoye said.