Nigeria’s Independent Electoral Commission (INEC) has proposed the creation of additional 2,424 polling units in Rivers State.
The state’s Resident Electoral Commissioner in Rivers State, Obo Effanga disclosed this on Wednesday.
Obo Effanga disclosed that the 2,424 voting points within the state currently may be upgraded into full-fledged polling units. This is expected to bring the total number of polling units in the state to 6,866 across the 23 LGA, which is believed to adequately serve the 3, 215,273 registered voters in the state.
“Based on the lower threshold of 500 and upper threshold of 750 determined by the commission for the conversion of voting points to polling units, INEC looked to convert 2, 424 voting points in the state to fully fledged polling units.”
Obo Effanga, Rivers State Resident Electoral Commissioner
The Electoral commissioner also spoke on the role of the police and the sad incident that saw policemen lose their lives during the election, saying, “… every police man is the responsibility of the Nigeria Police Force, primarily. When we carry out our activities, we invite the police; they have the primary responsibility for security.”
“Not only the police, other security agencies are also part of this, and I know that there is insurance for police personnel. So, if something happens to them in the line of their duty, police see that as something that happened to them in the line of their policing duties.”
In the last election, Rivers State, recorded two deaths of ad-hoc staff, whose families were compensated.”