By EMMANUEL ELEBEKE

THE Independent National Electoral Commission, INEC says it has concluded plans to adopt satellite services in the proposed review of the electoral boundaries and constituencies in the country.

Chairman of INEC, Prof Attahiru Jega disclosed this when he paid a courtesy visit to the National Space Research and Development Agency, NASDRA in Abuja.

Jega who expressed satisfaction with the quality of facility at NASDRE and the capacity of the personnel, said that the review of the country’s electoral constituencies is long overdue as they were developed in 1996 based on the 1991 census.

He said that the 1999 constitution empowers INEC to review the division of states into senatorial districts, federal constituencies, state  constituencies and FCT electoral wards, at intervals of not less than 10  years.

He however, stressed the need for the review of the existing electoral constituencies in order to ensure more equity in political representation, warning that if electoral boundaries are not adjusted periodically, it could lead to mal-apportionments.

He however, urged NARSDRA to partner with INEC to actualize the project through the use of satellite services, by getting high resolution  imagery covering the entire nation as at 2012 in hard and soft copies.

“We will therefore want NASDRA to help us in getting high resolution imagery covering the entire nation as at 2012 in hard and soft copies. We also want imagery showing new settlements in Nigeria by states in hard and  soft copies. Also, we will need imagery of population density in Nigeria in hard and soft copies.

“INEC will like to have locality list of Nigeria in hard and soft copies as well as street maps of Nigeria in hard and soft copies.”