18th December, 2013
On Monday, Professor Attahiru Jega, Chairman, Independent National Electoral Commission, INEC, disclosed that Nigeria will need N92.9 billion to conduct the 2015 elections.
At a one-day public hearing organised by the Senate Committee on INEC in collaboration with the Policy and Legal Advocacy Centre, Abuja and the United Kingdom Department for International Development, to determine the preparations ahead of the crucial polls, Jega said his commission will spend a mind boggling N2.7billion per state plus the FCT, and not less than $7.9 (N1,248) per electorate to conduct the general elections.
The commission has 73.5 million registered voters.
Without given the specific about how the money would be spent, the INEC boss said given that the commission spent $8.8 per voter in 2011, the new proposal of $7.9 per voter means the government will spend about 10 percent less in 2015. Nevertheless, the total sum of N92.9billion however still surpases the N85billion given to the commission by the federal government from the Special Fund Account, to conduct the 2011 polls.
And since Jega disclosed this anticipatory budget, many have kicked over the bloated figure. Without being blinded to the operational and logistics challenges the commission could face including the fresh voters registration ahead of the next election, there are assumptions that INEC under Jega has been on a needless spending binge. There are even fear that the latest budget for 2015 general elections could still balloon. Instance was Jega’s antecedents of requesting for additional funding as he did in 2011.
The economic cost of the 2011 general elections alone is put at N470.78 billion, about 1.9 percent of the total Gross Domestic Product (GDP). The amount excluded the cost of campaigns and political activities, such as conventions, congresses, advertisement and cost of mobilisation, and several analysts have even frowned at the huge cost.
A statement and analysis from the Democratic Socialist Movement quoted The Economist of London of 14 April 2011: “The process has been expensive. The government has set a record for public spending on elections of $580 million (N87 billion)”.
Also, the Financial Times of London, in its own publication of 28 April 2011, puts the official cost of our election at $647 million (N97.05 billion).
Even with this N93billion tentative figure, can Nigerian be guaranteed to have a free and fair election come 2015?
In a country still grappling with many basic infrastructural challenges, it is of the opinion that the huge N93billion budgeted to run the 2015 election could take care of many of these challenges.
This necessitates the need for the establishment of a mechanism that will help reduce the humongous cost of electioneering every four years in the country.
In line with global practices, INEC should quickly devise a way to make our election cost effective by holding all the elections (Presidential, governorship, National Assembly and state assemblies) same day rather than the staggered elections which are costly and vulnerable to manipulation. Also INEC need to hasten the provision of the permanent voters card to eliminate unnecessary re-registration at every election year and cut off the unquantifiable waste of funds and time.