As conversations surrounding new polling units in Nigeria ahead of the 2023 general elections reach an all-time high, states in the country have begun filing in their demands with a projection of over 100 million voters.
Request For 5,747 Additional Polling Units
Following its recent announcement to expand on existing polling units across the country, the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC), has released the State of Voter Access to Polling Units in Nigeria Discussion Paper which provides insight on state and region demands.
According to the paper, 12 northern states are demanding for 3,323 additional polling units, meanwhile, the southern part of the country, 14 states also want new 2, 424 polling units under the exercise. This brings total requests to 5, 747 polling units. Further breakdown of the requests shows Borno state topping the table of states demanding for new Polling Units. It currently has 3, 932 and is asking for additional 1, 235 units. Rounding out the top five are Niger state which currently has 3, 185 PUs but is asking for 1, 042 more; Rivers state which has 4, 442, wants 550 more; Osun state which has 3, 010, wants 358 more; and Cross River state which has 2, 283, wants 356 more.
Voter projection to double by 2023
The Commission had previously revealed that the current 119, 973 polling units created by the defunct National Electoral Commission of Nigeria (NECON) in 1999 had become inadequate in servicing the country’s growing voting population. For example, whereas there were about 58million registered voters for the 1999 elections, there were around 84million for the 2019 polls.
Speaking on the expected number for the 2023 elections, INEC Chairman, Prof. Mahmood Yakubu, has said the population of registered voter in the country might increase to 100 million by 2023. This, he explained, will be as a result of the Continuous Voter Registration (CVR) exercise expected to commence in the first quarter of this year.
“Nigeria has a critical problem of voter access to polling units. The country currently has 119,973 polling units established a quarter of a century ago in 1996 by the defunct National Electoral Commission of Nigeria (NECON). At that time, the voter population was projected at 50 million. The voters’ register increased to 84,004,084 by 2019.
“We envisage that by the next general election in 2023, the population of registered voter may be twice the number projected in 1996. Yet, the number of polling units remains the same. This is a national problem and must be addressed in earnest.”
The Commission had previously tried and failed in 2014 to create an additional 30,027 new polling units.
This story is part of our new series on Nigeria where we analyse electoral and political reform in the country ahead of the next general elections in 2023.
