Only two out of Nigeria’s 36 states and the Federal Capital Territory (FCT) recorded up to 50% voter turnout in the 2019 Presidential election. In 2015, it was 10 states that reached that turnout mark.
Nigerians go to the polls every four years to choose their leaders. Since the country returned to democracy over two decades ago, 6 general elections have been held, and the 7th is scheduled for February 2023.
A previous Dataphyte article had highlighted that voter turnout in the last 6 elections were relatively low and has in fact been dropping since 2007 and the billions of naira the country invests in elections is wasted because of low voter turnout.
As the country prepares for the upcoming election and against the backdrop of the low voter turnout in the just concluded Ekiti election, Dataphyte reviews voter turnout across the 36 states and the FCT in the last 2 presidential elections.
What was the voter turnout like in the 36 States and FCT in the 2015 Presidential Election?
The 2015 presidential election was conducted on March 28. The total number of registered voters was 67.42 million but on the election day, only 29.43 million people, 43.65% of the total registered voters, came out to vote.
The data from INEC shows that Lagos, Kano, Kaduna, Katsina, and Oyo states had the highest number of registered voters ahead of the 2015 election however none of these states were among the top 5 states with the highest voter turnout.
Except for Katsina where a little above half of its registered voters came out to vote, the other 4 states recorded less than a 50% turnout rate despite having the highest number of registered voters. In fact, Lagos state recorded the lowest voter turnout in the election. Only 25.67% of its 5.83 million registered voters came out to vote in the presidential election.
The states that recorded the highest voter turnout in the election were Rivers, Delta, Akwa Ibom, and Bayelsa. Others include Jigawa, Sokoto, Zamfara, Katsina, Bauchi, and Plateau. Only these 10 states had at least 50% voter turnout.
Even though Bayelsa had the lowest number of registered voters in 2015, it was the 4th state with the highest voter turnout in the election.
By zone, South-South recorded the highest voter turnout in 2015, followed by North-West. The turnout in the South-West and South-East region was the lowest among the 6 geo-political zones.
Any Difference in 2019?
Unlike the 2015 presidential election when more than half of the registered voters in 10 states came out on the election day to vote, this time around only 2 states (Jigawa and Katsina) recorded up to 50% turnout. The turnout in the states was 54.47% and 50.13% respectively.
Sokoto followed with 48.65%. The other states including the FCT did not have up to 45% voter turnout.
In the last two presidential elections only Katsina state has had at least a 50% voter turnout. Lagos state on the other hand has recorded the lowest turnout in both elections.
Data further show that none of the South-South states were among the top 16 states with the highest turnout, unlike the 2015 election when the top 4 states were from that region.
This change may be because neither of the two major contenders in the 2019 election was from the South-South region. This was not the case in 2015 when one of the major contenders for the presidential position was from the South-South region.
Overall, the voter turnout was higher in the Northern region in 2019. Each of the 3 geo-political zones in the North had more turnout than the 3 in the South.
This was slightly different in 2015 when the South-South region was ahead of the 3 geo-political zones in the North, suggesting that the major contestants from a certain region could determine the pattern of voter turnout. Perhaps the pendulum of voter turnout will swing south again with two major contenders for the highest office of the land, coming from the south.
If Ekiti’s voter turnout is any indication, a higher level of attention must be paid to ensuring registered voters actually exercise their rights come election day.