INEC Takes Action: Unraveling The N18bn Supplementary Budget Mystery

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The Chairman of the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC), Professor Mahmood Yakubu, disclosed this information on Wednesday…CONTINUE READING

while appearing before the House of Representatives Committee on Appropriations to present the commission’s budget.

He revealed that INEC is preparing to hold off-cycle elections in Bayelsa, Imo, and Kogi States, as well as bye-elections in several states across the nation.

According to Yakubu, the expenses for these three off-cycle elections and bye-elections have been included in the supplementary budget.

Professor Yakubu added that a portion of the N18 billion allocated in the budget is intended for staff salaries and allowances.

He explained, “In April of this year, there was a 40 percent increase in the peculiar allowance for civil servants.

It was not initially provided in our 2023 budget, which was passed in December of last year. Simultaneously, a government circular dated February increased Duty Tour Allowance (DTA) and other consequential allowances, and there was no provision for these in our statutory budget.

With a staff of over 15,000, it is a challenge to find the necessary funds to pay these allowances without a supplementary budget.

We made a case to the government, and it has been approved. For INEC’s 16,614 staff, the amount is N10.6 billion, and we have accounted for it.”

Furthermore, Yakubu pointed out that INEC has been unable to conduct some bye-elections due to the absence of budgetary provisions.

He mentioned that there are 11 vacancies, seven in the national assembly and four in state assemblies, that INEC needs to fill through by-elections, but there are no allocated funds for these elections.

The INEC chairman expressed his hope that there will not be any further unforeseen by-elections so that the commission can concentrate on the ones for which budgets have been allocated.

He emphasized the surprising number of vacancies within a short period and the challenges this poses for the commission, particularly in the House of Representatives, where five vacancies have arisen due to deaths and resignations, and similar occurrences in state constituencies and senatorial districts.

Conducting senatorial bye-elections, he noted, is akin to conducting a gubernatorial election because each state in Nigeria has just three senatorial districts.