Chairman of the Independent National Electoral Commission, Prof. Attahiru Jega, has said that the commission would require the whopping sum of N102 billion to conduct a credible election in 2015.
This was just as the Speaker of the House of Representatives, Hon. Aminu Waziri Tambuwal, raised an alarm that paucity of funds might scuttle the INEC’s efforts to conduct fraud-free elections in 2015.
The duo spoke in Ilorin yesterday at a public lecture organised by the Mustapha Akanbi Foundation (MAF) on the “Challenges of Fraud-free Elections Under a Democratic Dispensation”.
Tambuwal, who was the chairman of the occasion, told the audience that there was a N19 billion budget deficit for INEC in the 2014 appropriation bill before the National Assembly, presented by the Budget Office.
“Now the 2014 appropriation bill is before the National Assembly and talking about a truly independent INEC, you need to fund the electoral body to be able to carry out its all-important assignment of conducting election,” he said.
“However, what we have presented before us as the total sum required by INEC according to the Budget Office is N45 billion, whereas INEC itself is requesting about N63.8 billion for the proper conduct of that election. This is what INEC is seeking for to conduct a free, fair and credible election. We have before us the proposal of N45 billion instead of N63.8bn.
“Therefore, there is a deficit of about N19 billion. Unless and until we are able to meet up and give INEC as a government what is required, then we are about preparing… don’t read my body language.”
He said that the commission had justified the funds accrued to it in 2011 and that the executive and legislature must see reason why the electoral umpire should be given enough funds to carry out its function for a credible election to hold in 2015.
The speaker, however, dismissed insinuations that the 2015 elections would determine the unity of the country, saying that Nigeria had moved past such era.
Also speaking, Jega, who presented a paper on the lecture topic, lamented that the N45 billion presented by the Budget Office was a fraction of what INEC needs to conduct a credible election as it was not even sufficient to pay salaries and make necessary procurement.
Jega explained: “As Mr. Speaker rightly said, that budget was actually a fraction of what we need to conduct that election.
“If we have to keep on improving the integrity of the election, we also have to incur necessary expenditures in that process. We have to engage ad-hoc staff, we have to pay them allowances, we have to transport them or give them transport allowance, we have to provide allowance to security agencies, we have to procure ballot papers with security details and we also have to procure result sheets in addition to ballot papers and ballot boxes and all those non-sensitive materials that are required to hold elections.
“And our requirements are far, far in excess of what is in the law.
“What keeps us optimistic is that in 2011, both the National Assembly and the Executive have seen the need to provide appropriate funding in order to do a good election and we are hopeful that this recognition now will be made and funding requirements would be provided.
“Any time we mention figures about how much it will cost for election, we are put on the defensive. But since the Honourable Speaker has mentioned the figure, I am duty-bound to mention our figure.
“As I speak with you, when we saw the budget of N45 billion and we are asked to now provide the details of how N45 billion can be spent. In our engagement with the relevant authorities, we said, ‘Look N45 billion is not even sufficient for us to do necessary procurement between now and, say, November and to pay salaries and other entitlements of staff because all those are part of this N45 billion.’
“The procurement for purely electoral materials and electoral activities alone outside of payment of allowances is more than N45 billion. So how can you get N45 billion for the entire exercise?
“Like I said to you, when we had discussion with the Budget Office, we submitted the budget of N102 billion and yet N45 billion is what is submitted for us. We hope our engagement with government and the National Assembly will provide more funding for us to be able to do a good job.”
Jega also denied saying that INEC would not conduct elections in some North-eastern states because of activities of insurgents, expressing hope that the security situation in the areas will improve before then to allow the commission conduct the polls.
Minority Leader in the House of Representatives, Hon. Femi Gbajabiamila, expressed confidence in the ability of the Jega-lead commission “to withstand any direct fraud.”
Represented by the Chairman, House committee on Justice, Dr. Ali Ahmed, the minority leader, however, warned that the commission might not be able to withstand what he called “indirect fraud ” by denying INEC N19 billion deficit.
Pioneer chairman of the Independent Corrupt Practices and Other Related Offences Commission (ICPC) and MAF Chairman, Justice Mustapha Akanbi (rtd), said the lecture was organised to challenge INEC to conduct “a near-perfect election” noting that there is no perfect election anywhere in the world.
