The Independent National Electoral Commission
(INEC) has announced the addition of 56,872 more polling units in various parts
of the country.
INEC
Chairman, Professor Mahmood Yakubu, who made the announcement on Wednesday at
the commission’s headquarters in Abuja, noted that the move was in line with
the resolve to expand voters’ access to polling units.
“After
wide-ranging consultations with stakeholders and fieldwork by our officials,
the 56,872 voting points and voting point settlements were converted and added
to the existing 119,974 Polling Units.
“Consequently,
the commission is glad to report that 25 years since the current polling units
were created in 1996, the hard nut is finally and successfully cracked after
several unsuccessful attempts. Nigeria now has 176,846 full-fledged polling
units,” he said.
Professor
Yakubu stated that the history of creating and expanding polling units in
Nigeria has been long and complex.
He explained
that their adequacy and accessibility, in terms of number and location across
the country, were some of the challenges that had to be addressed in the
interest of credible elections.
The INEC boss
said before 2010, the electoral umpire operated on a round figure of
approximately 120,000 polling units.
He added that
a census undertaken by the commission before the 2011 general elections arrived
at the precise figure of 119,973 polling units.
Professor
Yakubu disclosed that INEC has also made efforts to relocate many polling units
from inappropriate places to public buildings accessible to voters, polling
agents, observers, and the media during elections.
He listed
some of the locations to include private residences and properties, palaces of
traditional rulers, and places of worship.
The INEC
Chairman attributed the establishment of voting points and voting point
settlements across the states and the Federal Capital Territory (FCT) to the
several unsuccessful attempts to create additional polling units.
“The voting
points were tied to the existing polling units and voting point settlements.
The number of registered voters in a polling unit and the voting point
settlement in the FCT, was used to determine their voting points, based on the
upper and lower thresholds of 500 and 750 voters respectively,” he said.
0 Comments