INEC’s N189bn Request Threatened As NASS Committee Adjourns Indefinitely

•Number of registered voters rises to 82m

Deji Elumoye and Omololu Ogunmade in Abuja

The request for N189 billion by the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) to prosecute the 2019 general elections suffered a setback yesterday when the National Assembly Joint Committee on Electoral Matters adjourned indefinitely following disagreement among the members.

This is coming on the heels of the disclosure by the Chairman of Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC), Prof. Mahmud Yakubu, that Nigeria now has 82 million registered voters.

Members of the National Assembly Joint Committee toed their respective political party lines in their debate on the amount that should be approved by the committee for the Independent.

Whereas the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) Senators and House of Representatives members of the committee canvassed for the approval of N143 billion requested by President Muhammadu Buhari for virement to INEC for the preparations for the polls, their counterparts in the All Progressives Congress (APC), were in support of the approval of N189 billion presented before the committee on Wednesday by the INEC Chairman, Prof Mahmud Yakubu.
The lawmakers’ dilemma over which of the proposals to be approved was made worst with the statement by Minister of Budget and National Planning, Senator Udoma Udo Udoma that the amount to be approved was at the discretion of the NASS Committee.

The minister, who made the submission upon request to that effect by the Chairman of the Committee, Senator Suleiman Nazif (PDP Bauchi North), explained to the committee that though the N189billion requested for by INEC was the same amount in the President’s letter, but because of funding constraints, President Buhari decided to break approval for it into two folds by seeking virement for N143bn for INEC this year while the balance of N45.6billion would be taken care of in the 2019 budget .

According to him, the joint committee chooses to approve the entire N189billion, so be it, so long as it does not lead to increase in the N9.12trillion 2018 budget size.
He said: “Mr. President will have no objection to the National Assembly approving the entire N189 billion INEC budget as long as it does not in anyway, lead to increase in the overall size of the 2018 budget.