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Home » News » 2023: Polls to hold in 176,996 polling units as INEC creates additional 57,023
2023: Polls to hold in 176,996 polling units as INEC creates additional 57,023
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By Charles Kumolu
Twenty five years after the Independent Electoral Commission of Nigeria, INEC, created Polling Units, PUs, the Commission is poised to create additional 57,023 across the country.
The move would increase the number of voting units from 119,973 to 176,996.
This is barring any further intrigues by vested interests, Vanguard learned.
The then National Electoral Commission of Nigeria, NECON, had created the current 119,973 PUs.
Reasons for the move were said to include the emergence of new settlements across the country, difficult terrain, increase in the number of registered voters and the need to depopulate PUs to prevent electoral fraud.
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The Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) last month said it intends to update the 119,973 Polling Units (PUs) and over 57,000 voting Points (VPs) Nigeria has been stuck with for 25 years.
The National Commissioner and Chairman, Information and Voter Education Committee (IVEC), Festus Okoye, said this in Abuja at the end of the management meeting of the commission.
The decision is to reflect the realities of population growth and the establishment of new settlements in the country.
In August 2014, INEC proposed the creation of 30, 027 more polling units, with the northern region getting 21,615 while the southern region was to get 8,412 units. The controversy that trailed this decision forced the commission to suspend the plans.
By Ignatius Okorocha
President of the Senate, Ahmad Lawan, on Tuesday said that the National Assembly would support the Independent National Electoral Commission in its bid to provide a secure and safe voting environment, with the ultimate aim of fostering democracy by ensuring electoral integrity and transparency in the conduct of elections.
Lawan made this known while speaking during a meeting between the National Assembly Joint Committee on INEC and Electoral Matters and a delegation from the Independent National Electoral Commission, led by its Chairman, Mahmoud Yakubu.
In his presentation, Prof. Mahmoud Yakubu, while underscoring the need for the creation of additional Polling Units across the country, said the current configuration of 119,973 Polling Units was established by the defunct National Electoral Commission of Nigeria (NECON) in 1996.
The Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) has asked the National Assembly to support its effort to convert the existing polling points to polling units ahead of the 2023 general elections. Speaking at a stakeholders’ forum organised by the National Assembly Joint Committee on INEC and Electoral Matters held on Tuesday in Abuja, INEC Chairman Prof […]