The Independent National Electoral Commission says it will revisit an earlier plan to delimit (read, create more) constituencies in the country.
The acting Chairman of the commission, Amina Zakari, made the announcementy in Abuja on Wednesday when the newly-appointed Surveyor General of the Federation, Mr. Ebisintei Awudu, led a delegation to the commission.
She noted that the commission had before the general elections commenced the process of constituency delimitation, but the exercise was put on hold due to the controversy it generated.
The INEC acting chairman said, “Now that the elections are over, we have to dust our Memorandum of Understanding and process the agreement to commence the delimitation.”
She explained that apart from the Office of the Surveyor General of the Federation, the commission had also signed partnership agreements with sister agencies, such as the Nigerian Postal Service, the National Air Space Research and Development Agency, the National Population Commission among others, to collaborate on the project.
Zakari informed the new SGOF that the commission had already signed an MoU with OSGOF, not only for the provision of maps but for technical expertise.
Earlier, Awudu had explained that the purpose of his visit was to review the earlier MoU his office had signed with INEC, as well as discuss other areas of mutual interest relating to surveying and mapping.
He added that his team was in the commission to discuss what the OSGOF could do to support in areas of constituency delimitation and any possible support for the conduct of Kogi and Bayelsa states’ governorship elections.
The Surveyor-General of the Federation pledged to support the commission with a 2.5M Satellite Imagery Map of the whole country, settlement data, training, technical and other logistics support, adding that, “We pledge participation in the delimitation since we are in the committee.”
The former INEC chairman, Prof. Attahiru Jega had created 30,000 new constituencies just before the 2015 general elections.
However, public outcry especially from the South and the Peoples Democratic Party, forced Jega to reverse course – having been accused of favouring northern states in carrying out the exercise.
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