Election 2011: N87.7 green light for INEC to set election ball rolling
Attairu Jega
Senators on Tuesday approved N87.7 billion for the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC), smoothening the way for the compilation of a new voters register for next year’s elections.
The money, which is N1.87 billion short of INEC’s request, was captured under a second Supplementary Appropriation Bill 2010 sent to the Senate by the President.
The approval came on the eve of the August 11 deadline set by the INEC chairman, Prof Attahiru Jega, for the Federal Government to meet the commission’s request to facilitate the conduct of the polls.
Of the amount, N25,810,441,531 is for additional non-debt recurrent expenditure; the N61,911,520,000 balance is for contribution to the development fund for additional capital expenditure for the year ending December 31.
Introducing the bill, Senate Leader Teslim Folarin said because of the urgency of the request, the National Assembly Committees on Appropriation, INEC and Electoral Matters held a joint meeting.
He said the committees deliberated on the proposal submitted by the President on Monday in agreement with INEC, adding that the budget was reviewed from N89.592,874,171 to N87,721,961.531.
Folarin said: “We are aware of the mood of the nation in respect of the proper funding of INEC and the provisions of the necessary tools it requires to ensure that the 2011 elections are free, fair and credible.
“Accordingly, our committee did not waste time in recommending the request for approval by the Senate.”
He said the Senate recommended that “for the fiscal year ending December 31, the executive be authorised to issue from the Consolidated Revenue Fund of the federation the total sum of N87,721,961.531′’.
He added that N25,810,441,531 was for additional Recurrent (Non-Debt) Expenditure. The balance of N61,911,520,000 is for contribution to the Development Fund for additional Capital Expenditure for the year ending December 31.
Deputy Majority Leader Victor Ndoma Egba, said the nation was left with no choice than to give INEC the cash to succeed.
He said: “We are in a serious dilemma in the sense that INEC must be assisted to conduct credible elections. The whole world is expecting credible elections where votes count. Government must deliver credible elections. We don’t have enough time to scrutinise the budget.
“Time is not on our side, and we have no other option than to pass the budget. We know that Nigeria is looking for another scapegoat in the person of the National Assembly to blame; that it was the Assembly that did not pass the budget.”
Senator Anyim Udeh said the nation was under pressure to ensure credible elections, stressing that there was urgent need to approve the money, despite the reservations by many of the senators on the staggering amount demanded by the commission.
Udeh said: “We are all under pressure to pass this budget and in the process things that needed to be verified cannot be done. We earlier heard it was N72 billion, later it jumped to N74 billion and now N89 billion.
“The INEC issue reminds me of the aviation issue where we later discovered after passing the budget that the figure budgeted was more than what was used. Contractors always have two budgets – one for Nigeria and another for themselves. We need to pass this budget and later go for oversight function on INEC.”
Minority Leader Maina Lawan dismissed all insinuations about the size of the budget, saying a breakdown of the expenditure as tendered by INEC was clear enough.
Senator Olorunnibe Mamora was of the view that there were no problems with the budget. He, however, cited instances where equipment for which money was released to INEC in the past were not bought.
He said: “I don’t have problem with the request. Mr. President you were in the last Senate, a request was sent from INEC only for us to discover that what were requested for were not bought. INEC should be mindful not to register underage and fictitious names during registration.
“We don’t have up to 120,000 units in this country, as claimed by INEC. Some of the units are outposts for manipulation of elections.”
Senator Bassey Ewa-Henshaw would not subscribe to any lengthy debate about the matter, as he reminded his colleagues that INEC now has a man of character and integrity at the helms.
Senate President David Mark also expressed reservations about the size of the budget, but he told his colleagues that the senators should go ahead and approve the request, despite such reservations.
Mark said: “We have reservations and in spite of our reservations, we have to make sure that INEC conducts free and fair elections. We have gone an extra mile to do this in the hope that INEC will conduct credible elections.”
Source: Gbade Ogunwale, The Nation.
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