2023 Elections: INEC to spend N1bn on Voters’ Register
In preparatory to 2023 general elections, the Independent National Electoral Commission, (INEC) said it is to spend N1 billion for Voters Registration exercise.
The Commission’s Chairman, Prof. Mahmud Yakubu dropped the hint when he appeared before the House of Representatives Committee on Electoral Matters to defend the Commission’s 2021 budget proposal.
Prof Yakubu said the exercise will commence in the first quarter of 2021, noting the Commission has been facing a lot of financial challenges due to a reduction in their budgetary allocation as a result of the global economic downturn occasioned by the crash in the price of crude oil and the COVID-19 pandemic.
He explained that INEC has been able to sustain funding of various elections so far conducted because it decided to draw about N5.2 billion from the INEC Fund which he said was established in 2010 by law.
The Chairman INEC stated because the Commission is one of the agencies that do not return unspent funds to government coffers at the end of every year, it decided to save such funds in the INEC Fund hoping for a rainy day.
“We at the Commission decided that the rainy day has come when its annual budget was reduced from N45.5 billion in 2019 to N36 billion in 2020.The N5.2 billion removed from the Fund was able to bridge the gap created by the reduction in its annual budget,” he added.
Earlier, the Chairman, House Committee on Electoral Matters, Hon. Aisha Jibrin Duku congratulated the INEC boss, Prof. Mahmud Yakubu for his reappointment, stressing that the reappointment signifies his doggedness in steering the affairs of the Commission and most importantly, his steadfastness towards conducting free, fair and credible elections in Nigeria.
Hon. Duku said the Commission is requested to forward details of its 2020 appropriated budget expenditure as well as the 2021 budget proposal for further legislative action, noting that it is only through the budget that INEC can be able to discharge its mandate of conducting credible elections in Nigeria.
“We are partners in progress whose goal is to strengthen our electoral process and aid INEC in discharging its functions”, she added.
