How current polling units create crisis during elections — Yakubu

The Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) has said the current numbers of the polling units (PUs) are grossly inadequate, leading to crisis during elections.

Chairman of INEC, Prof. Mahmood Yakubu, said this at a meeting with media executives in Abuja on Friday.

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He said the existing 119,973 PUs were created 25 years ago.

“Nigeria has a critical problem of voter access to Polling Units. The country currently has 119,973 Polling Units established a quarter of a Century ago in 1996 by the defunct National Electoral Commission of Nigeria (NECON). At that time, the voter population was projected at 50 million.

“The voters’ register increased to 84,004,084 by 2019. We envisage that by the next General Election in 2023, the population of registered voters may be twice the number projected in 1996. Yet, the number of Polling Units remains the same. This is a national problem. It must be addressed in earnest.

“This matter is at the heart of electoral democracy. Every eligible citizen has the right to register and vote in democratic elections. However, the right to vote cannot be effectively exercised without a place to vote. Citizens’ right to vote must be exercised in a conducive and safe environment, particularly in the context of the COVID-19 pandemic.”

Many may be disenfranchised

Yakubu said many voters would be denied the opportunity of exercising their rights to votes if the situation is not immediately addressed.

The INEC boss said though the electoral body made three earlier attempts to create more PUs in order to solve the problem, this was resisted by political interests.

He said, “The commission has reviewed the previous efforts at expanding voter access to Polling Units in 2007, 2014 and just before the 2019 General Election and why they were unsuccessful.

“We came to the conclusion that our genuine intention may not have been properly communicated for input by Nigerians. We also tried to solve the problem too close to General Elections. The exercise was therefore misunderstood and politicized.”

INEC consulting with stakeholders

He said learning from experience, the commission has now decided to start early and to engage with Nigerians by consulting widely.

Daily Trust reports that INEC had met with leaders of political parties, Civil Society Organisations (CSOs) and members of the Inter-Agency Consultative Committee on Election Security (ICCES, earlier in the week.

Yakubu said the commission also plans to meet with socio-cultural associations, traditional and religious organisations, labour unions, professional and constitutional bodies, in the weeks ahead.

He said options being considered are methodology of increasing the PUs, with the conversion of Voting Points and Polling Points Settlements into PUs.