The Independent National Electoral Commission, INEC, says it has concluded the process of conversion of voting points to polling units across the 23 Local Government Areas in the State.
The National Commissioner Supervising Bayelsa, Edo and Rivers States, May Agbamuche-Mbu made the announcement  during a stakeholders’ meeting on the expansion of voters’ access  to polling units with political parties, security agencies, Civil Liberty Organisations, and others at the commission headquarters in Port Harcourt.
She emphasised that the proximity of people to the voting centers necessitated the commission’s move to convert voting points to polling units.
In a remark, the INEC Resident Electoral Commissioner in the State, Obo Effanga said the converson of voting points to polling units was one of the administrative activities of the commission.
According to the Electoral Commissioner,  polling units are also the creation, ownership of INEC and not any community, family or individual.
Effanga stated that the Polling Units in the State had been increased from 4,442 to 6866.
He affirmed that the exercise was necessary given that it was coming 25 years since the last time new polling units were created in Nigeria.
“At the end of the field work in Rivers State, we converted 2424 Voting Points to Polling Units. When this is added to the current figure of 4442 Polling Units; Rivers State will have a total of 6866 Polling Units for its current voter population of 3,215,273.”
Explaining further on the due diligence of the expansion exercise, Effanga noted that “in carrying out the conversion of Voting Points to Voting Units, we deployed technology, specifically the Geographical Information System (GIS) to plot with specificity, the location of all our polling units.”
He added that “the outcome of the fieldwork has since been subjected to verification by a team from the INEC Headquarters and the state office to ensure that the outcomes reflect our guideline.”
Also speaking, the Commissioner of Police, CP Friday Eboka said the assurance of equitable security during electoral process was important to retain participants’ confidence and commitment to any election.
CP Eboka who was represented by Deputy Commissioner of Police, Operation, Muazu Muhammed outlined the challenges faced by the command and urged the commission to notify the command one month ahead of any poll.
In his contribution, the  Chairman of the  State chapter of the People’s Democratic Party (PDP), Desmond Akawor commended INEC for a job well done, advising the commission to give consideration to the need for increase in logistics, especially, in the area of security since there were more polling units.
Akawor also harped on the need for the full elections timetable to be out in time to avoid a fire brigade approach to elections by political parties, while calling on INEC to continue mounting pressure on the National Assembly to pass the amendments to the Electoral Act into law to have the right framework for conducting the next election.
A representative of Isaac Ogbobula, the Chairman of the All Progressives Congress (APC) in the State, Celestine Akpobari raised concerns on why Khana LGA with 19 wards would have 64 polling units while Obio/Akpor LGA with 17 wards now has 852 polling units.
The State Chairman of the National Orientation Agency (NOA), Young Ayo-Tamuno, who advocated for the commencement of comprehensive orientation of the populace before the next elections.
Also speaking, the Chairman of Persons Living with Disabilities in the Sate, Kie Obomanu called on INEC to make special preparations for his members so as not disenfranchise them in future elections.