In continuation of its working tour of local governments/local council development areas  in respect of delineation of wards and creation of additional polling units towards the  2011 general elections, the Lagos State Independent Electoral Commission, LASIEC recently  paid a working visit to Surulere LGA where it held a stakeholders’ meeting with  representatives of the three councils in the area which include Itire-Ikate and  Coker-Aguda LCDAs.

Delivering a keynote address at the forum, the chairman of LASIEC, Hon. Justice Afolabi  Olayinka stated that the purpose of the exercise is to address the requests from various  communities in Lagos State for delineation of wards and creation of addition polling  units, mainly because new communities have been springing up in Lagos State as a result  of the rapid urbanisation and they are being denied effective and adequate  representation. In addition, some wards are not contiguous, which follows that new wards  may be created out of the existing LGA/LCDA, while also some councils may need more  polling units.

Justice Olayinka added that the commission earmarked four days for each LGA/LCDA, while  some may require more days but in all, there would be presentation of requests, visits to  problematic areas, community meeting with stakeholders and harmonisation of all  presentations and findings.

Representatives of communities in the three council areas presented their requests and  demanded for more wards and additional polling units in all the council areas.

In their address, the council chairmen Dr. Razak Folami, Surulere LG; Hon. Hakeem  Bamgbola, Itire-Ikate and Hon. Aliu Kazeem, Coker-Aguda LCDAs, all commended the  commission for its effort and urged the communities to cooperate with the commission,  because it is also an avenue to disseminate information and prepare members of the public  towards the 2011 election.