INEC Chairman Defends N18b Supplementary Budget

The Chairman of the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC), Mahmood Yakubu, appeared before the House of Representatives and Senate Appropriations Committees on Wednesday to defend the proposed supplementary budget of N18 billion. A part of this budget will be used for the off-season governorship elections in Kogi, Imo, and Bayelsa states.

Yakubu explained that N10.6 billion out of the sum would enable the Commission to pay its staff the 40% increase in Peculiar Allowance earlier approved by the Federal Government (FG) in April 2023.

The INEC chairman said that over N3 billion is meant to pay INEC Staff the award of N35,000 approved for each Public Servant across Nigeria for six months by the FG, as well as the new Duty Tour Allowance.

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He said the Commission will spend N1.6 billion on the conduct of eleven outstanding bye-elections, comprising five federal Constituencies, four State Constituencies, and two Senatorial Districts.

Another N1.4 billion is for the augmentation of the cost differentials in the budget for the Bayelsa, Imo, and Kogi governorship elections, according to Yakubu.

Yakubu, during his presentation, also told the House of Representatives that the commission has a total of 16,614 staff.

“You will recall that in April this year, there was a 40 percent increase in peculiar allowance of civil servants. It was not provided in our 2023 budget because the budget was passed in December last year,” he said.

“At the same time, there is another circular from the government dated February, where the duty tour allowance (DTA) and other consequential allowances were increased by the government.

“We have over 15,000 staff and it is not easy to find the money to pay without a supplementary budget, so we made a case to the government and we have been included.

“For the component dealing with 40 percent peculiar allowance, for the 16,614 staff of INEC, it is N10.6 billion and we have made provision for that,” he said.

INEC is set to conduct the three off-season governorship elections in Kogi, Imo, and Bayelsa on Saturday, November 11, 2023.