The Independent National Electoral Commission, INEC, is poised to create additional 57,023 polling units across the country.
The move would increase the number of polling units from 119,973 to 176,996.
25 years ago, the then National Electoral Commission of Nigeria, NECON, had created the current 119,973 PUs.
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 are some of the reasons giving for the creation of the polling units.
According to Vanguard, the Commission applied a lower and upper limit threshold to disaggregate the present PUs in the country.
Before now, some of the units were said to have more than 1500 registered voters, a situation that makes it easy for electoral malpractices.
Having put every element into consideration, INEC was gathered to have settled for the application of 500 lower limit and 750 upper limit in the process of disaggregation.
This implies that the minimum number of voters for any PU would be 500.
It was learned the development may not have been possible had the Commission’s Chairman, Professor Mahmud Yakubu, not opposed those described as some powerful forces whose intent was to scuttle the plan.
Had those who wanted the status quo had their way, the allocation of the PUs would have been done inequitably in favour of some states.
