INEC BUDGET: NASS Okays ₦143B President Buhari’S Request for 2019 Elections

The Joint Committee of the National Assembly on the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) has adopted a budget of one hundred and forty three billion naira for the funding of the 2019 general election.

This followed a meeting of the Joint Committee held behind closed doors at the National Assembly complex in the nation’s capital.

It puts to rest the disagreement on the matter by the lawmakers who were divided along party lines on whether to approve the one hundred and forty three billion naira requested by President Muhammadu Buhari or the one hundred and eighty- nine billion naira proposed by the electoral body to enable it to procure materials for the conduct of the elections.

Chairman of the Committee, Senator Suleiman Nazif, representing Bauchi North urged INEC to re -present the budget to the National Assembly

Earlier, President Buhari asked the National Assembly to transfer N143bn from projects it inserted into the 2018 budget to fund next year’s elections, while a balance of N46bn should be included in the 2019 budget.

He had also criticized the lawmakers for reducing allocations for some projects and including thousands of others into the 2018 budget without consulting with the Executive.

INEC, on the other hand, requested for both N143bn and N46bn in one tranche to conduct the general election.

The Joint Committee, however, asked the electoral body to resubmit a budget of N143bn to the National Assembly.

NNEKA UGWUANYI