The Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) has expressed deep and fresh concerns over the poor state of facilities at most of its Polling Units (Pus) and Ward Collation Centres (WCCs) nationwide.

The electoral umpire equally lamented that the poor facilities at the centres and Pus, mostly located in public buildings at state primary and secondary schools, are making life unbearable for its ad hoc staff, especially the National Youth Service Corps (NYSC) members, during elections.

The chairman of the commission, Mahmood Yakubu, raised the fresh alarms when he hosted the Statistician-General of the Federation, National Bureau of Statistics (NBS), in Abuja on Tuesday, September 9.

Yakubu specifically explained that the corps members and the groups representing the community of persons with disability have repeatedly appealed to the commission over the years to improve the poor facilities by providing electricity and water for the ad hoc staff.

In his opening remarks, the electoral umpire boss urged the NBS to add the concerns to the statistics on the state of public facilities that they periodically publish and, more importantly, in their engagement with constitutional bodies such as the National Economic Council (NEC), in which all state governors in Nigeria are members.

He equally appealed to the state governors to ensure that the facilities, which train youths at the foundation and intermediate levels of the education system, are beneficiaries of the widely proclaimed dividends of democracy.

Yakubu said: “Most of our Pus and Ward Collation Centres nationwide are located in public buildings, the majority of them in state primary and secondary schools.

“Over the years, stakeholders, especially the NYSC and groups representing the community of persons with disability, have appealed to the commission to improve these facilities by providing electricity and water for ad hoc staff as well as access facilities such as ramps for citizens with special needs during elections and electoral activities such as voter registration.

“We urge the NBS to add these concerns to the statistics on the state of public facilities that you periodically publish and in your engagement with constitutional bodies such as the NEC, in which all state governors in Nigeria are members.

“Let these facilities, which train our youths at the foundation and intermediate levels of the education system, be beneficiaries of the widely proclaimed dividends of democracy,” he appealed.

On his part, the Statistician-General, Prince Adeyemi Adeniran, had earlier outlined the broad mandate of the NBS, explaining that beyond producing official statistics, the Bureau coordinates Nigeria’s vast statistical system, regarded as the largest in Africa.

It, according to him, includes state statistical agencies, planning and research departments in ministries, departments, and agencies, as well as tertiary institutions offering statistical studies.

The Statistician-General emphasised the importance of accessing INEC’s data sets, describing them as “very vital” for planning, describing the visit as part of efforts to explore how both institutions could align their resources to serve citizens more effectively.

“We believe that if we can work with INEC to make this data usable and accessible, it will strengthen planning by governments, businesses, and development partners,” Adeniran said. (Daily Sun)