The Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) has said that the N305 billion required to conduct the 2023 elections would be used majorly to meet the commission’s technological needs to better serve the country, IgbereTV reports.
Speaking on Wednesday, INEC’s National Commission, Festus Okoye, disclosed that part of the money will be used to conduct elections in some states where the gubernatorial polls fall outside the regular schedule.
In defending the request for the funds as made by INEC’s Chairman, Professor Mahmood Yakubu, the commission’s spokesman noted that all that has been asked for is the best interest of the Nigerian people.
Explaining in detail, Mr Okoye said, “the issue is very clear. The first was that there was a provision of N140 billion to the appropriations committee, from the Executive.
“Out of this, N40bn was for our regular budget which decreases on a yearly basis. So the first N100 billion we classified it as the first tranche for our 2023 general election,” the commissioner stated
He added: “Now as you are aware, we are going to conduct the Ekiti and Osun governorship election in June and July and so from that N100 billion we are going to take some money to conduct the elections in these two states.
“Secondly, as you are aware, the commission is introducing a new technology in the electoral process and it is a multi-functional tech that will take care of voter registration issues, accreditation of voters, and issues of uploading and transmission of electoral results.”
While noting that the smartcard readers have been retired for not serving INEC perfectly anymore, Mr Okoye said this new technology has to be acquired, noting that the advancement is quite expensive but worth it.
