By John Ikani
The Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) says it has completed its background processes on the establishment of new polling units in some locations in Nigeria.
This was disclosed by INEC Chairman, Prof. Mahmood Yakubu while speaking at the formal handing over of a new state of the art fire truck, deployed to the Commission’s headquarters in Abuja by the Federal Fire Service (FFS).
Mr Yakubu said the commission would release a full list of new polling units next week.
“We earlier assured Nigerians that we shall conclude work on the expansion of voter access to polling units and make the new polling units available to citizens ahead of the CVR exercise.
“I am glad to report that we have accomplished this task for the first time in 25 years. A comprehensive list of the new polling units will be published next week. Similarly, details of the locations of the registration centres and the procedure for the commencement of online registration will also be made available after a series of regular consultative meetings with stakeholders next week,” he said at the event attended by heads of security agencies in the country.
He expressed appreciation of the commission to the FFS and all security agencies for the demonstration of their support to protecting INEC facilities.
What you should know
The step to the expansion of voter access to polling units has been one of the commission’s age-long goals to decongest existing polling units in parts of the country.
At least 42 of the INEC facilities across Nigeria have been affected by different attacks as it pursues relevant obligations, one of which is the expansion of citizens’ access to polling units.
For its part, the Federal Fire Service offered to deploy additional state-of-the-art fire engine to the INEC headquarters to complement the two existing trucks. At the same time, it directed its State offices to take additional protective measures around other INEC facilities nationwide.
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