Chairman of the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC), Prof. Mahmood Yakubu has expressed the Commission’s intention to create more polling units in Nigeria, ahead of the 2023 general elections. There are currently 119,973 polling units and 57,023 voting points across the country. The current structure of polling units was established in 1996 and INEC subsequently created voting points prior to the 2011 general elections to enhance efficiency in election management by decongesting polling units that had more than 750 registered voters. Voting Point Settlements (VPS) were also created in the Federal Capital Territory in addition to polling units and voting points (section 3, INEC Regulations and Guidelines for the Conduct of Elections 2019).
The issue of additional polling units which was shelved ahead of the 2015 general elections seems to have come to the fore. It will be recalled that in August 2014, INEC under the leadership of Prof. Attahiru Jega sought to create 30,027 additional polling units ahead of the 2015 general elections, with 21,615 in the north and 8,412 in the southern part of the country. However, controversy trailed the proposed plan, leading to its suspension by the Commission. Nigeria’s rapidly growing population and changing demographics, as well as, registration of new voters, creation of new settlements, including camps for internally displaced persons (IDPs), the need to decongest crowded polling units in urban areas, may be some of the reasons that have given rise to plans for the creation of more polling units.