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The Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) is billed to install Closed-Circuit Television (CCTV) cameras in critical polling units to deter rigging and criminal activities during the 2011 election. The essence of providing the cameras is to guard against criminal elements and corrupt officials who may attempt to use the election periods to manipulate the process for fake results.

The Economic Confidential gathered that the Chairman of the Commission, Professor Attahiru Jega and his federal commissioners have been contemplating on using devices that could block every loophole against malpractices during the elections.

The CCTV cameras can produce images or recordings for surveillance purposes. There are feelers that ballot boxes can be bugged with taping devices as well as using tiny surveillance equipment as small as pens and phones that use batteries and solar energy rather than relying on electricity generated gadgets.

Recently at a forum organized by the Third Estate in Ilorin, Kwara State, a National Commissioner of INEC, Dr. Abdulkadir S. Oniyangi disclosed that the Commission has commenced work with development partners to establish an electronic, real time monitoring of the registration process and elections, with possibilities of integrating high quality video.

Dr. Oniyangi further added that the Commission has commenced work with development partners to produce a comprehensive interactive map of all poling units to make it easy for people to locate them which will be tied to ongoing updates and total remodeling of the website.

The Economic Confidential further gathered that the Commission is discussing with armed forces and other organizations on receiving coordinated logistical support for INEC during the registration of voters and the elections proper.

It is yet to be confirmed if the CCTV will be installed in all the 120,000 polling units in the country or in selected areas that are noted as hotbeds of electoral malpractices.

Due to their large populations, Lagos and Kano States have the highest polling units with over 8,000 respectively.

The breakdown of the polling units in Nigeria is detailed below:
Abia               2678      Adamawa  2612       Akwa Ibom  2982
Anambra        4623      Bauchi       4074      Bayelsa       1805
Benue            3691      Borno        3933      Cross River  2283
Delta              3625      Ebonyi      1784       Edo             2629
Ekiti               2195       Enugu       2958       Gombe       2218
Imo               3522       Jigawa      3527        Kaduna      5108
Kano              8074       Katsina     4897        Kebbi        2398
Kogi               2548       Kwara       1872       Lagos         8465
Nassarawa      1495       Niger        3188       Ogun          3221
Ondo              3009       Osun        3010        Oyo           4783
Plateau           2631       Rivers       4441       Sokoto       3035
Taraba            1911       Yobe         1714       Zamfara    2410
FCT   562