BY JOHN NWOKOCHA, Abuja

The Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) may has concluded arrangements to return polling units to the country’s national elections as the commission prepares for the 2023 general elections and future polls in the country.

National Chairman of INEC, Professor Mahmoud Yakubu in a brief chat with some journalist in Abuja, on Wednesday hinted that polling units which were last experienced in 1996 elections would make a come-back in 2023 and future elections, saying since polling units are central to electoral process, he has been on sensitisation mission engaging stakeholders and politicians across the country. He disclosed that he had already engaged such groups as Afenifere, leader of Pan Niger Delta Forum (PANDEF), Pa Edwin Clark, other socio-cultural groups.

The INEC national chairman would be meeting with leaders of political parties today (Friday) in Abuja, as part of the ongoing sensitisation. He would subsequently be engaging the civil society groups, judiciary, National Economic Council, labour unions, in the aggressive sensitisation about voters’ access to polling units. During the meeting with journalists Yakubu noted that “this interaction is urgent. But it must be done”.

He also, observed that attempts to create polling units by the electoral body in the past had not been successful. Voters access to polling units during elections was witnessed last in the country since 1996. In 2007, the commission attempted to create polling units, but failed. In 2014, under Professor Attahiru Jega, the commission announced the creation of polling units, again, it failed. Also in 2019, INEC tried to create polling units but it did not succeed.

This, according to Yakubu has resulted in increasing voter apathy or low voter turnout in every election

Yakubu said under the new plan, ‘We intend to succeed. We don’t want Nigerians to input motives on what we are trying to do. We will lay it bare on the table. We are very sure to start early and consult widely with stakeholders. It is desirable for our nation. We are not allocating polling units on the basis of any consideration, but in the best interest of Nigeria. Nigerians are interested in democracy but the system does not allow them for convenient voting exercise.” He canvassed for what he called “pleasant” voting experience to mitigate the crisis faced on election days.

The low turnout of voters at elections is result of 25 years of neglect and inaction towards improving the electoral process.

Espousing the issue a document signed by Yakubu and made available to News Express states: Voter access to Polling Units is at the very heart of electoral democracy because Polling Units are the basis on which citizens exercise their fundamental rights to vote and to make electoral choices freely.

Voter access goes beyond the number of Polling Units available to voters. It also entails citing Polling Units in places that are conducive to voting as well as the extent to which the environment of each Polling Unit provides a good voter experience and implementation of the regulations and guidelines of the Commission on Election Day

“For the 2019 General Election, the average number of voters per Polling Unit was about 700 nationally, rising to over 2,000 in the Federal Capital Territory while a specific Polling Unit in Nasarawa State had over 15,000 voters.

“Others are located in places experiencing conflicts or in places under the control of partisan actors. Moreover, because of inadequate Polling Units, many voters have to travel long distances to their Polling Units on Election Day

“Moreover, because of inadequate Polling Units, many voters have to travel long distances to their Polling Units on Election Day. All these have contributed to low voter turnout at elections, egregious violation of election regulations and guidelines, violence and insecurity. Crowding at Polling Units also constitute health and safety issues in this period of the global COVID-19 pandemic.

“Repeated attempts by the Commission to expand voter access to Polling Units by establishing new ones and relocating some to better sites have not been successful

“The inability of the Commission to routinely expand voter access to Polling Units when necessary has been principally due to politicization of the process by sundry interests in the country, especially by propagating unfounded claims and conspiracy theories about the Commission’s intentions.

“As the Commission enters a new electoral cycle (2019-2023), with some major upcoming activities such as the Continuous Voter Registration (CVR) and several off-cycle elections which will culminate in the 2023 general election, it decided to embark early enough on a major programme of engagement with stakeholders on expanding voter access to Polling Units ahead of the activities in the electoral calendar. Therefore, this Discussion Paper is the Commission’s framework for the planned engagement. Among other things, it presents the Commission’s concerns about the worsening challenge of voter access to Polling Units, provides a historical background to this challenge, outlines some indicative issues to be addressed by the engagements and provides the Commission’s thinking on how to solve the challenge of declining voter access to Polling Units in Nigeria. As a Commission, we do not take the important contributions of stakeholders to the electoral process for granted”.

INEC national chairman said that the commission was determined to move polling units out of politicians’ homes, shrines, forests, traditional rulers’ hold for voters’ access. He said that already politicians had started demanding that polling units are sited in their areas of control. “But we are not going to treat this as constituency allocation”.

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