ECES donates GIS equipment to INEC for constituency delimitation

Prof. Mahmood Yakubu, the Chairman, Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC), has said the Geographic Information System (GIS) equipment donated by European Centre for Electoral Support (ECES) would help in delimitation of constituencies.

Yakubu said this in a statement signed by Mr Rotimi Oyekanmi, his Chief Press Secretary, on Thursday in Abuja.

According to him, the equipment is received at The Electoral Institute, the research arm of the commission.

Yakubu said, while receiving the equipment, that the commission was already collaborating with the National Population Commission (NPC) in the area of delimitation of constituencies.

While thanking ECES for the kind gesture, he said the equipment would strengthen the commission’s ability to serve Nigerians better.

INEC National Commissioner, Dr Mustafa Lecky, said the GIS Laboratory, where the equipment would be utilised, was part of the INEC Strategic Plan and Strategic Plan of Action.

The plan of action, according to him, was designed to improve access to accurate, complete and geospatially referenced high-resolution electoral data for decision-making across all functions of the commission.

“Over the course of its value-added work, the INEC GIS Laboratory would collect, store, process and make available electoral spatial delimitation data.

“This include generating directional spatial maps for election-day activities and making available atlas of results of elections using adequately trained staff in mobile spatial data collection technology,” Lecky said.

The Programme Coordinator of ECES, Maria Mauro, commended the commission’s continued efforts to improve the electoral system.

She said ECES would continue to assist INEC in a variety of ways to achieve its goals.