Africtv - Mail Summary...
- The chairman of the House of Representatives Committee on Electoral Matters, Rep. Jerry Manwe, has said that the N45 billion allocated to INEC in the 2014 budget is inadequate.
Manwe (PDP-Taraba) told the News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) in Abuja on Wednesday that the allocation was half of what the commission required to conduct the 2015 elections.
NAN recalls that INEC Chairman, Prof. Attahiru Jega, had told stakeholders at a forum in Abuja that the commission would need about N93 billion to conduct hitch-free general elections in 2015.
"If you don't give him (INEC chairman) the amount of money he requires, you cannot expect him to conduct a credible election with that amount of money in the budget," he said.
Manwe said that INEC had not made any formal request to the House of Representatives for increase in its budget to conduct the 2015 general elections.
"Normally such requests are made during budget defences," he said.
He said that the government must not wait until when there were elections before providing funds for the commission to carry out its mandate.
On 6 January, Jega had listed financial constraints and lack of voter education as likely constraints to the 2015 general elections.
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