2015: INEC to create more 30,000 polling units

By Ikechukwu Okaforadi

The Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) has said it will create additional 30,000 polling units across the country before the 2015 general elections.

Chairman of the commission, Attahiru Jega, stated this yesterday at a town hall meeting at the National Press Centre, Radio House, Abuja, during a recorded meeting entitled ‘Talk Your Own, Make Naija Better’.

He said this 30,000 polling units across the country, is in addition to the existing 120,000 polling units across the county, making a total of 150,000 PUs in the country.

He pointed out that the Commission intended that each PU would have a maximum of 500 voters as against current system where every PU has more than 3,000 voters.

While admitting that the additional PUs will have implications in terms of additional cost, more personnel, more cubicles and additional ballot boxes, Jega explained that the creation of additional PUs will eliminate congestion and take care of additional settlements in the event of crises and demolitions as witnessed in the Federal Capital Territory (FCT) and some Nigerian cities.

The INEC Chairman disclosed that states under the state of emergency were put in the third phase of the distribution of Permanent Voter Cards (PVCs) and the Continuous Voter Registration (CVR) exercise scheduled for August this year, saying it is in the hope that normalcy would have been restored in those states by then.

He said that the Commission had planned to conduct Continuous Voter Registration (CVR) and the 2015 General Elections in all states of the federation, including those under state of emergency.

Jega further disclosed that the Commission was working in collaboration with the security agencies to create the opportunity for Continuous Voter Registration and General Elections to take place in states under emergency.