NASS fast tracks passage of N242bn election budget

…As Reps allege duplication of figures

By Ikechukwu Okaforadi, Musa Adamu & Christiana Ekpa

The Senate President, Bukola Saraki, and the Speaker of House of Representatives, Yakubu Dogara, have commenced the process of reconvening National Assembly to consider and approve the N242 billion budget of Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) for the conduct of 2019 general elections.
Apparently yielding to pressures from the ruling All Progressives Congress (APC), the Senate President and the Speaker of the House of Representatives, yesterday directed the chairmen of their respective committees on INEC to interface with the INEC leadership.
Purpose of the meeting was to enable the INEC boss defend the N242 billion proposals for the 2019 general election, and to enable the Senate and House INEC committees produce a report that would be considered by both chambers when the session is eventually reconvened to pass the budget request.
Speaking after the meeting well attended by both APC and PDP senators, the Chairman of Senate Committee on INEC, Nazif Suleiman, assured Nigerians that all the political brouhaha over the past weeks would soon come to an end, explaining that the interface between was a prerequisite for reconvening the parliament.
However, defending the budget, the INEC chairman, Mahmud Yakubu, said the commission needed the lawmakers to approve the one hundred and eighty nine billion budget it requested, to ensure a hitch free 2019 general elections.
Responding on why the commission duplicated most of the budget items already budgeted for in the 2018 budget of the commission, the INEC chairman said this was because new issues emerged which needed to be taken care of by the commission.
He gave instance that the seven hundred and seventy seven (777) polling centers were no longer enough as there were congestions, hence they deeded to devolve by creating additional one thousand, four hundred and forty six additional centers, which according to him, require more logistics and materials.
He said further that after registration of voters, the register has to be displayed to enable the voters view it, which he said requires money to be printed. Yakubu added that the commission needed more money to print the Permanent Voter Cards (PVCs) for newly registered voters, a process he said the commission has been engaged with over the last sixteen months.
He said also that the commission will buy generating sets to power the printers in the one hundred and twenty thousand polling units to print results after elections in the units. In addition, the INEC boss disclosed that the commission has also made provision for a runoff if no clear winner emerges in the first balloting.
Also, during the question and answer session, the lawmakers queried the Commission’s boss on how the failure of the President to sign the 2010 Electoral Act (Amendment) Bill will affect the commission, to which he said the commission will use the existing Act to conduct the elections.
Meanwhile, the House of Representatives Committee on Electoral Matters, yesterday queried the Independent National Electoral Commission, INEC, over the duplication of items provided for in the 2018 budget for the 2019 polls.
The committee chaired by Aisha Dukku (APC-Gombe) queried the rationale behind the huge budget proposal, observed that most of the subheads captured in the N189.2 billion were contained in the N45.5 billion approved budget for Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC).
Total sum of N45.5 billion as proposed by President Muhammadu Buhari was approved by the National Assembly.
Checks by our correspondent showed that details of the INEC expenditure was given in the 2018 Appropriation Act signed into law by President Buhari.
In her remarks, Dukku reiterated the House resolved to support towards issue of interest that will strengthen the nation’s electoral process and aid INEC in discharging its functions.
Aisha Dukku, chairperson, House Committee on Electoral Matters gave the assurance during the INEC budget presentation to members of the committee for the conduct of 2019 general elections.
She explained that” It is only by so doing that one can begin to unravel the intricacies of the entire range of issues involved and their interconnectedness.
“You will agree with me that for a government that promised change to its people, the foundation of this change ought to be evident in the way we plan our elections and electoral processes.
“The estimates should represent a true picture of the Fiscal Responsibility Act (FRA)”, she said.
The lawmakers expressed concern over INEC’s previous budgets saying they were neither productive or ineffective because of poor planning.
“It is our prayer and hope that the present administration would address the issues with budgeting especially as regards to funding unlike the previous budgets that were not productive in the entire planning of elections Recall that the Senate President, Bukola Saraki and the Speaker of the House of Representatives, Yakubu Dogara met with the INEC on the budget of the commission.
It was believed that the House would reconvene to consider the budget on Tuesday or Wednesday.
Why delay in passage of our budget-INEC Also recall that the INEC boss had explained to Senators why the delay in the passage of the Electoral Act prevented the Independent National Electoral Commission, INEC, from including the budget of 2019 elections in the 2018 appropriation last January.
Yakubu had said until legislative process is completed on the bill, the commission will be unable to estimate effectively the cost for the election.
“We can’t complete work on the election budget unless the national assembly has helped us to complete work on the electoral act,” he said.
“For instance, there is provision in the bill passed by the senate for two types of primaries; direct and indirect. One party may opt for direct, another for indirect and both will have different cost implications.
“What are we going to do? We have to wait until the act is passed before we know the correct figure. I will appeal to the distinguished senators to expedite work on the electoral act so that we can have an idea of the figure.”
Mr. Yakubu noted that INEC has made three key improvements on the card readers for forthcoming elections.
“First, we are improving the processors of smart card readers so that it will be speedier. Secondly, we are increasing the windows where people press the fingers on election day.