N45b inadequate for INEC, says Tambuwal, Jega

Next year’s general elections may run into trouble — no thanks to poor funding.

Aminu Waziri Tambuwal

The government has budgeted N45billion for INEC in this year’s financial plan, but the agency said it sought N102billion.

Although the elections are fixed for February next year, all the preparations will be done this year.

House of Representatives Speaker Aminu Tambuwal decried the slashing of the INEC budget.

INEC Chairman Prof. Attahiru Jega also said the N45billion is not enough to procure its material needs, let alone run the elections.

They spoke in Ilorin, the Kwara State capital, yesterday during a public lecture organized by the Mustapha Akanbi Foundation (MAF).

Justice Mustapha Akanbi, a retired President of the Court of Appeal and pioneer Chairman of the Independent Corrupt Practices and other Related Offences Commission (ICPC), is the promoter of the foundation.

Yesterday’s lecture is entitled: “Challenges of fraud-free elections under a democratic dispensation.”

Tambuwal said: “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 elections.

“However, what we have before us as the total sum required by INEC according to the budget office is N45bn whereas INEC itself is requesting about N63.8bn for the proper conduct of that election.

“This is what INEC is seeking to conduct a free, fair and credible election. We have before us the proposal of N45bn instead of N63.8bn. Therefore, there is a deficit of about N19bn. 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. “

Prof Jega said: “On the question of the budget, I must say it is a serious challenge. What the budget office presented is an envelope. We had a prior discussion before that envelope was brought to the National Assembly.

“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 what we call lunch allowance to security agencies, we have to procure ballot papers with security detail and we also have to procure result sheet 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, 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.

“Anytime 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.

“In our engagement with the relevant authorities, we said, “Look N45bn 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 N45bn.

“The procurement for purely electoral materials and electoral activities alone outside of payment of allowances is more than N45bn. So how can you get N45bn for the entire exercise? Like I said to you, when we had discussion with the budget office, we submitted the budget of N102bn and yet N45bn 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,” he said.

Tambuwal expressed optimism that the outcome of the general elections would affect the unity of Nigeria.

The speaker noted that some ‘politicians and ethnic jingoists’ are fond of overheating the polity on the eve of every general election.

“The 2015 elections are by the corner and already there is so much talk about how the conduct of that election can make or break not only our democracy but out unity. Let me say here that the unity of this country does not depend on the outcome of any election. We have moved past that.

“Since 1999, it seems that every time we have an election coming, politicians and ethnic jingoists overheat the polity unnecessarily and cause a lot of tension and fear in the land. We must stop seeing everything as the end of our union.

“We must all imbibe the democratic culture-the idea is that power belongs to the people and it is their sovereign right to determine who governs them. We must learn to respect the wishes of the people, however much it goes against our personal ambitions.

“This country belongs to all of us equally and we must learnt o obey the rules of democracy. Nothing is gained by threats and counter threats, and democratic mandate is not gained by force or coercion. If the desire to win election is strictly based on our wish to take care of the people’s needs and not to satisfy some selfish desires of our own, then we should allow the people to choose who they want in an atmosphere devoid of fear or rancour.

The Speaker who lamented that Nigeria has few role model described Justice Akanbi as a shining example of patriotism who must be celebrated.

Justice Akanbi urged INEC to organise a fraud-free election beginning with governorship elections in Osun and Ekiti states slated for June and August.

He said: “we are all aware of the controversies that surrounded the last election in Anambra state which compelled Jega to conduct ‘supplementary polls’. True as Jega said, there can hardly be a perfect election anywhere in the world but our clamour is that INEC should endeavour to achieve a near perfect election which will fulfil the aspiration of the majority of Nigerians and ensure that in future elections, there would be no repeat performance of what happened in Anambra state.

“Until the one-man-one-vote is truly established in this country, the so much desired peace, stability and progress may continue to elude us. This is because those who are not justifiably elected find themselves in power and because they owe no allegiance to the electorate they continue to amass wealth to bribe their way through other forthcoming elections,” Justice Akanbi added. (0)

N45b inadequate for INEC, says Tambuwal, Jega