The National Assembly NASS has been urged to support the conversion of the existing polling points to polling units ahead of the 2023 general elections.
Chairman Independent National Electoral Commission INEC, Professor Mahmood Yakubu, made the call at a stakeholders’ forum organised by the National Assembly Joint Committee on INEC and Electoral Matters held on Tuesday in Abuja.
He said the conversion will decongest polling units during elections, adding that the current configuration of 119,973 Polling Units was established by the defunct National Electoral Commission of Nigeria (NECON) in 1996.
He said there has been no creation of new polling units for the past 25 years, adding this is despite the increase registered voters from 57.93 million in 1999 to 84.04 million in 2019.
Senate President Ahmad Lawan assured the INEC of the legislators’ support to create additional polling units, but added that more needs to be done to mobilise voters to participate in elections.
