APC leader wants INEC to update PWD voter numbers

The National Leader of the All Progressives Congress for Persons with Disabilities, Tolu Bankole, has asked the Independent National Electoral Commission to change how it shows figures for Persons with Disabilities on the national voters’ register.

He made this request in a statement released in Abuja on Sunday. The statement was titled, “Misreporting PWD Numbers in Nigeria’s Voter Register: Why INEC’s Captured Figures Do Not Reflect the Full Historical Reality.”

Bankole pointed out that the 137,487 PWD figure reported by INEC does not show the total number of registered voters with disabilities in Nigeria. He argued that this number mainly includes people who declared their disability status after INEC added a specific field for disabilities in its Continuous Voter Registration process in 2021.

He said that voters with disabilities who registered before 2021 were not included in the disability-disaggregated figures. This is because earlier registration systems did not have disability status as a separate data field.

He explained, “The 137,487 (or derivative) figure is therefore a flow measure of indicated disability from the 2021, present window, not a stock measure of all PWDs in the full historical register. You cannot count what you never measured.”

Bankole called on INEC to clearly explain the limits of the PWD statistics. He also urged them to increase awareness so that eligible PWDs updating their registration understand how important it is to indicate their status correctly.

He further asked the commission to find ways, while respecting legal and privacy rules, to improve the historical visibility of all PWDs on the register. He emphasized the need for continued collaboration with PWD structures for 2027 and beyond.

The figures mentioned by Bankole include 13,080 visually impaired persons, 9,299 hearing-impaired persons, 30,561 persons with albinism, 19,430 persons with physical impairment, and 54,941 persons in other categories.

However, Bankole noted that these numbers could still be an undercount. He pointed out that some PWDs may not have indicated their status during registration.

“As I have consistently stated, many PWDs indeed registered without indicating their PWD status,” he said.

He explained that some registrants fail to identify themselves due to a lack of awareness, stigma, and the belief that saying they have a disability is not necessary.

The former lawmaker called on INEC to “publicly and consistently qualify PWD statistics with the temporal and methodological limitations of the data.” He again urged the commission to increase awareness so that PWDs understand the importance of indicating their status accurately.

The APC leader also asked INEC to explore ways to improve the historical visibility of PWDs already recorded in the voters’ register, while following legal and privacy rules.