- INEC proposes N305bn for 2023 elections
PRESIDENT Muhammadu Buhari officially declined to assent to the Electoral Amendment Bill passed by the National Assembly and applauded by majority of Nigerians for its progressive and popular provisions.
The President said if signed into law, the provisions of the bill will infringe on the rights of Nigerians to participate in governance and democracy.
The President’s refusal to assent to the bill was contained in letters to the two chambers of the National Assembly on Tuesday. Senate President, Senator Ahmad Lawan, and Speaker of the House of Representatives, Hon. Femi Gbajabiamila, read the letters to plenary sessions of the Senate and House of Representatives respectively on Tuesday.
The bill was transmitted to the president on November 19, with many Nigerians, particularly progressive civil society and labour organisations calling on the president to sign it into law.
In the letter read by Hon. Gbajabiamila, President Buhari said he declined to assent to the bill based on relevant advice received from all concerned ministries, departments and agencies; citing financial, security and legal consequences for rejecting the bill.
“The amendment as proposed is a violation of the underlying spirit of democracy, which is characterised by freedom of choices of which political party membership is a voluntary exercise of the constitutional right of freedom of association,” the president stated in the letter, adding that the existing constitution of the parties already registered with the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) permits direct, indirect and consensus primaries.
Hon. Gbajabiamila, in his end-of-the-year speech to the House, said the parliament will decide the way forward on the bill next year, noting that there would be no need to throw away the baby with the bathwater.
“As it is, it falls on the parliament to decide the way forward. When we resume next year, we will decide it together. We must not throw the baby away with the bathwater,” Mr Gbajabiamila said
INEC proposes N305bn for 2023 elections
Meanwhile the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) has proposed a N305 billion budget for the conduct of the 2023 general elections. This was disclosed on Monday by INEC Chairman Prof Mahmood Yakubu, to a meeting with Senate Appropriation Committee.
The INEC boss and his team were at the Senate on the invitation of the committee to get the commission’s needs for the general elections included in the 2022 Appropriation bill.
Senator Barau Jibrin, the Chairman of the committee said after the meeting that “the presentation and consideration of 2022 budget will be tomorrow [Tuesday]. We have been waiting for them (INEC) and they have given the detailed information of what they need. We are proceeding to put together our report for onward submission to the plenary tomorrow (Tuesday). We are presenting it tomorrow and it is going to be considered tomorrow as well by the grace of God”.
Earlier during a session with the Senate committee, Prof Yakubu told the lawmakers that INEC would need N305 billion for the conduct of 2023 general elections as well as off-circle elections scheduled for 2022.
Prof. Mahmood noted that the 2022 Appropriation bill had made provision for the sum of N140 billion of which N40 billion is for regular budget of the commission while the remaining N100 billion is for the preparation of the 2023 general elections.
However, he said the N100 billion earmarked in the Appropriation bill was grossly inadequate, hence the need for additional N205 billion.
Justifying the increase, the INEC boss said the commission has eight bye-elections pending, including Ekiti and Osun governorship elections.
Prof Yakubu said: “We made a submission for N305 billion for the 2023 general elections in a very comprehensive 22 page document with 260 budget lines…In submitting the executive proposal to the National Assembly, the sum of N140 billion was made available to INEC as a one line item in the budget and as usual we broke it down and submitted same to the committee that oversights INEC in both the House and the Senate.
“The N140 billion was broken into two, we take it that N40b is our regular budget as an agency of Government and N100b was the first tranche of the 2022 budget and we have gone ahead to make provisions accordingly. For the N40 billion annual budget, included in that are also elections that we are supposed to conduct, particularly off-season elections. It may interest the committee to know that we have 8 bye-election pending; three federal constituencies and five state constituencies.
“In fact, the last vacancy occurred only last Wednesday following the death of a member representing Giwa west in Kaduna state.”
He also disclosed that there are some activities that must be concluded before the elections, such as buying of machines, voter registration, printing of ballot papers and other sensitive materials, provision for logistics, payment of ad-hoc staff and cost of litigations.
