The Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) has announced that polling units will no longer be placed at worship centres and inappropriate locations across the country.
The INEC Chairman, Mahmood Yakubu made this known at a meeting with Resident Electoral Commissioners (RECs) in the capital city, Abuja.
In addition to making the announcement, he also announced the locations of 56, 872 newly-created polling units (PUs), including 1,607 new polling units in Oyo State, bringing the total number of polling units in the state to 6,390.
The INEC chairman stated that 749 PUs were removed from inappropriate locations and further revealed that with the new PUs, the total number of polling units in the country has risen to 119,974
In his words: “After wide-ranging consultations with stakeholders and fieldwork by our officials, the 56,872 Voting Points and Voting Point Settlements were converted and added to the existing 119,974 Polling Units.”
“Consequently, the Commission is glad to report that 25 years since the current Polling Units were created in 1996, the hard nut is finally and successfully cracked after several unsuccessful attempts. Nigeria now has 176,846 full-fledged Polling Units.”
“Of this figure, 232 were removed from private properties, 145 royal palaces, six Mosques, 21 Churches and nine Shrines. The remaining 336 Polling Units were relocated for various reasons which include distance, difficult terrain, congestion, communal conflict, new settlements and general insecurity.”
He rounded up his statement by saying that Nigeria will stop using Voting Points after the four pending 2021 by-elections in Kaduna. He announced that this new development would begin with the November 6, 2021 Anambra governorship election.
“For subsequent elections, beginning from the Anambra State Governorship election holding on 6th November 2021, there will be no Voting Points anymore in Nigeria,” he announced.
