Chairman Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) Prof Mahmood Yakubu has stated that existing 119,973 polling units (PUs) established 25 years ago and meant for 50 million voters were not enough for Nigeria’s 84 million voters currently in the voter register as well as those soon to register.
Yakubu who stated this Tuesday at the first quarterly meeting (virtual) with Civil Society Organisations, identified lack of access to polling units as one of the factors that engender low voter turnout during elections.
“The country currently has 119,973 polling units established in 1996 by the defunct National Electoral Commission of Nigeria (NECON) to serve a projected population of 50 million voters. The figure remains the same for the last 25 years although the number of registered voters has increased to 84,004,084 by 2019 and is set to rise after we resume the registration of new voters ahead of the 2023 general election.”
Other factors that cause low voter turnout during elections, according to Yakubu, included inadequate voter and civic education, ineffective voter mobilisation, the fear of violence during elections, unfulfilled promises by elected officials and low public trust in state institutions.
He added that “over the last two electoral cycles, including off-season elections, voter turnout across the country hovers around 30-35% compared to the average voter turnout of 65-70% in other countries.”
While promising that the commission will continue to work with CSOs and all stakeholders to address these challenges, Prof Yakubu said the commission was convinced that access to polling units is a critical factor in voter turnout during elections.
He lamented that “countries with higher percentages of voter turnout during elections also have adequate and convenient voting locations for eligible voters which are periodically adjusted to reflect increase in voter population.
He said, “previous efforts at expanding voter access to polling units in 2007, 2014 and just before the 2019 general election were unsuccessful” because the “genuine intention may not have been properly communicated for input by Nigerians and therefore misunderstood and politicised.”
The INEC boss said having learnt from past experience, “the commission has now decided to start early and to engage with Nigerians by consulting widely.
“We have worked hard in the last two months and produced a discussion paper entitled “The State of Voter Access to Polling Units in Nigeria”. We have also prepared satellite imageries of the location of polling units across the country and produced still pictures and videos to demonstrate the difficulties faced by voters on election day.”
He noted that the meeting with CSOs was in furtherance consultations with stakeholders, adding that such consultations will help to better communicate the commission’s intention to Nigerians and invite input across the board on how to address the problem in the immediate term and hopefully establish the framework for future adjustments as the need arises, as is the case in virtually all democracies around the world.
The INEC chairman expressed confidence that by working together, “we will make history by finally solving this 25-year old problem of expanding voter access to polling units in Nigeria.”
