Professor Mahmood Yakubu, Chairman of the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC), said the electoral body will spend at least N355 billion to conduct the 2023 election.
On Wednesday, he presented an estimated budget of N355 billion to the Senate Committee on INEC, which is chaired by the former Governor of Kano State Kabiru Gaya.
The INEC Chairman had stated that his commission would need N305 billion as estimated spending for the 2023 election when presenting his budget forecast before the Senate Committee on Appropriations in December, which was later approved.
However, Professor Yakubu stated in the National Assembly on Wednesday that INEC would require an additional N50 billion for its 2023 annual budget.
In the budget submitted to the Senator Gaya-led committee, the sum of N2.6 billion was earmarked for off-season governorship elections in Kogi, Imo and Bayelsa states, which had been scheduled for November 11, 2023.
According to INEC, the N2.6 billion would be used on expenses such as printing of ballot papers, result sheets, forms and envelopes, logistics expenses, honorarium for officials, supervision, RAC preparation, and security/intervention support, among others.
According to INEC, in the 2023 budget of the agency, N50 million will be spent to buy firefighting equipment, and motor vehicles – N150 million, and N250 million to repair offices and residential buildings.
The Commission is also expected to deploy over 200,000 Bimodal Voter Accreditation System (BVAS) across the country for the 2023 general election
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