TheCable

The Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) says it is considering creating additional polling units across the country before the 2023 general election.

Mahmood Yakubu, INEC chairman, said this when he received geographic information system equipment donated by the European Centre for Electoral Support (ECES) in Abuja on Wednesday.

Nigeria currently has 119,973 polling units with additional 57,000 voting points for its 84 million voters.

Yakubu said with Nigeria’s growing population, the commission is seeking ways to ensure voters do not have to travel long distances to vote on election day.

He said the commission introduced voting points to complement the polling units, but that people who intend to vote still experience difficulty finding their units on election day.

He said: “If you look at some of the satellite images and you place dots on spots where there are polling units in relation to the vast  area where we have no polling units, we are still under-served even with the initiative of the commission in operating voting points and voting point settlements.

“So, GIS in our operation with the equipment that we have will be a great facilitator in the efforts of the Commission in that respect.” 

He added that INEC is collaborating with the National Population Commission (NPC) to delimit constituencies when the polling units are being created.