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Bauchi REC, Ibrahim Abdullahi addresses electoral stakeholders
By Akanji Alowolodu, Bauchi
Bauchi State office of the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) has unveiled plans to convert existing expanded voting points and voting settlements into full polling units in the state in order to expand voter access to polling units.
The disclosure was made by Resident Electoral Commissioner in the state, Alhaji Ibrahim Abdullahi during a stakeholders meeting at the INEC headquarters in Bauchi saying that where necessary, the Commission will relocate new and existing ones to places closer and more accessible to voters and the commission.
He explained that, “Our meeting today is in continuation of the commission’s engagement with critical stakeholders in the electoral process at all levels, as we can not afford to take the contribution of our stakeholders for granted” .
According to him, section 42 of the electoral Act 2010 (as amended) vested the commission with the power and responsibility of establishing sufficient number of polling units in each registration area and said that it was in line with that mandate that the commission has in the past few weeks embarked on field identification and verification of polling units Nationwide.
Ibrahim Abdullahi also said that the Commission will decongest existing polling units by reducing number of voters per polling units to maximum of 750 voters and minimum of 500 voters per unit.
The REC who said that the commission will continue to improve the quality of access to electoral services to all Nigerians, added that better access to voting at the polling units would also be accorded the Persons With Disability (PWD).
He added that apart from that, the exercise when approved, will also improve the health and safety conditions of voters and the electoral officials at polling units during elections by complying with COVID-19 safety protocols, among others.
The Resident Electoral Commissioner said, consequent upon the exercise, a total number of 1,349 voting points and 174 existing polling units have been recommended for conversion and relocation in strict compliance with the guidelines for expanding voter access to polling units.
He said that the details of the exercise would be made available to the public as soon as approval is granted by the commission’s national headquarters.
Ibrahim Abdullahi who gave the 2019 electoral statistics of Bauchi state, said that the state had 2,462,843 as registered voters, 212 Registration Areas (RAs), 4,074 polling units as well as 1,349 converted voting points.
He called on political, traditional leaders and other stakeholders present to disseminate, mobilize and enlighten the people to effectively use the opportunity provided by the expanded voter access to polling units.
All those who spoke during the meeting applauded INEC for the move which they all agreed was long overdue considering the stress people go through in order to be able to discharge their constitutional duty of franchise a development they said led to voter apathy in the state.
