By Kemi Yesufu
Chairman of the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC), Prof. Mahmood Yakubu on Wednesday presented a N189.2 billion budget to the the House of Representatives committee on Electoral and Political Parties Matters.
He told the committee, N134.4 billion is for election operation cost, while N27.5 billion is for election technological cost.
Of the amount presented to the lawmakers, N22.7 billion is for election administrative cost and N4.6 billion miscellaneous cost.
In her response, chairperson of the committee, Aishatu Dukku, stated that lawmaker are ready to sacrifice part of their recess to come back and deliberate on the budget of the commission due to the importance of the 2019 general election.
Earlier in her opening remark, Dukku said it is important for the parliament to approach the budget proposal from both process and content perspective.
She said: “It is only by so doing that one can begin to unravel the intricacies of the entire range of issues involved and their interconnectedness.
“You will agree with me that for a government that promised change to its people, the foundation of this change ought to be evident in the way we plan our elections and electoral processes.
“The estimates should represent a true picture of the Fiscal Responsibility Act (FRA)”.
The lawmaker expressed dissatisfaction over of INEC’s previous budgets saying they were neither productive or effective because of poor planning.
“It is my prayer and hope that the present administration would address the issues with budgeting especially as regards to funding unlike the previous budgets that were not productive in the entire planning of elections”.
Recall that the Senate President, Bukola Saraki and the Speaker of the House of Representatives, Rep Yakubu Dogara met with INEC on the budget of the commission.
Saraki and Dogara explained in a jointly issued statement on Tuesday that the National Assembly will only reconvene to consider the commission’s budget, after it has been scrutinized by the relevant committees in both Houses in parliament.
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