N18bn Allocation not Solely Meant for Off-cycle Elections – INEC Boss

N18bn Allocation not Solely Meant for Off-cycle Elections – INEC Boss

POLITICS DIGEST- The chairman of the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC), Prof Mahmood Yakubu, has said that the N18 billion contained in the supplementary appropriation for the commission was not all meant for the conduct of the three off-cycle elections in Kogi, Imo and Bayelsa states.

Prof. Yakubu said out of the money, only N1.6 billion was budgeted for the conduct of the three elections, while about N10.6 billion was meant for personnel costs.

The INEC Boss who spoke while defending the Commission’s supplementary budget before the House Committee on Appropriation also said that bye-elections into legislative positions have not been conducted because the commission has no budget for such elections.

He said: “I will like to make certain clarifications. The N18 billion in the supplementary appropriation is not only for the conduct of elections. A substantial part of the money is about personnel costs.

“You will recall that in April this year, there was a 40 percent increase in peculiar allowances for public servants across the country. It was not provided for in our budget for 2023 because it was passed in December 2022.

“There was another circular from the government dated February where the Duty Tour Allowance and other Consequential allowances were increased by the government and there was no provision for that in our budget.

“We have one of the largest workforce in the country with over 15,600 staff and it is not easy to find the money to pay in the absence of a supplementary appropriation. So, we made a case to the government and we have been included in this supplementary appropriation.

“For the portion dealing with peculiar allowances for all staff of INEC, we will require N10.6 billion and we have made provision for that. Our annual salary is about N26 billion and 40 percent of that is N10. 6 and so, we have made provision for that.

“Because of the experience we have in getting cash backing to implement our programmes, we started thinking ahead and there is already an award of N35,000 for workers across the board by the government. For the overall 15,600 staff, we would need about N3 billion for the six months the government wants to implement that.

“For electoral matters, we have two challenges. The first is that the budget for the 2023 general elections was appropriated by the National Assembly in 2022.

“We knew that there will be no budget in 2023 to take care of the elections. So, we made provisions in the 2022 budget not just for the general elections, but also for five off-cycle governorship elections.

‘These are Ekiti and Osun elections which were held last year and we made provisions for the Kogi, Imo, and Bayelsa elections. So, the N300 billion-plus budget that people have been talking about is not just for the general elections, but also for the five off-cycle governorship elections.

“However, since the budget was passed in 2022, some parameters have changed. For instance, the price of PMS has changed from less than N200 to over N600 per litre. So, we need augmentation.

“Part of the N18 billion will go for the conduct of the elections in Kogi, Imo and Bayelsa states. Already, service providers are putting us under pressure, and many of them have doubled their costs. We budgeted N1.4 billion for augmentation.

“The last aspect relating to the election is what members have asked us. In the House of Representatives, five vacancies have been declared, why has INEC not conducted bye-elections? There is no budgetary provision for these unforeseen and unexpected bye-elections.

“Not many people will believe that within four months, after the inauguration of the National and State Assemblies, 11 vacancies have occurred. That is 11 bye-elections with the majority coming from the House of Representatives.

“There are five vacancies in the House of Representatives. Two as a result of death and three due to resignation by members. We have four vacancies in the state Assemblies and two Senatorial districts.

“Each time we conduct three bye-elections, it’s like conducting a state election because each state of the federation has three senatorial districts. So, we had to make provision for the conduct of bye-elections in 11 constituencies and for that, we have made provision of N1.6 billion”.