By Joseph Erunke
ABUJA-Independent National Electoral Commission, INEC, is so broke
that it may not be able to pay staff salaries from next month.
Chairman of INEC, Prof. Attahiru Jega, disclosed this to bewildered
members of the House of Representatives Committee on Electoral Matters,
who visited INEC headquarters in Abuja, yesterday.
Dr. Abdulkadir Sulaiman, who represented Prof. Jega, said: “If we
don’t do anything about it on time, we may not be able to pay salary by
next month.”
Following this development, the chairman called on the legislators to
quickly intervene and save the situation, else the commission’s
aspiration of conducting the 2015 general election in line with
international best practices would be a mirage.
He also told the visiting legislators, led by the Chairman of the
Committee, Mr. Jerry Manwe, that the paucity of fund had drastically
slowed down the pace of work on all the capital projects being executed
by the commission.
According to him, no other release has reached INEC as the second quarter release did not come directly to the commission.
Jega said: “Of the N35 billion earmarked for the commission in the
2012 budget, only N10 billion was released to the commission in March.
That was seven months ago. “The second quarter of the money was released
to the commission last month, September.” “However, it was not sent
directly to the commission, it was lodged in the Treasury Savings
Account under the office of the Accountant-General of the Federation.
The commission is yet to access this fund.
“It has sent complaint to the Minister of Finance, requesting for
exemption from the TSA scheme in view of the autonomy granted this
commission in the 1999 Constitution and the 2010 Electoral Act.
“The commission is still awaiting the Minister’s response. And in
view of the fact that the N10 billion released to the commission is
quite low, the commission has to suspend most of its projects, pending
the time the remaining money is released.
He said the projects include renovation of INEC offices nationwide,
printing of permanent voter cards, purchase of 100 KVA power generating
sets in INEC offices nationwide, construction of residences of INEC
Resident Commissioners, and electrification of state offices of INEC. He
commended the House of Representatives Committee on Electoral Matters
for finding time to visit the commission to find out things for
themselves.
Jega said the commission was ready to cooperate with relevant bodies
in ensuring that its operations were carried out as spelt out in the
constitution.
Manwe said the revelation about the state of the commission by its
leadership was worrisome. He said his committee condemns Federal
Government’s handling of the affairs of INEC in totality, stressing that
an urgent letter would be sent to both the Minister of Finance and
Accountant-General of the Federation to appear before the House to
explain reasons behind the Federal Government’s position.
He said the committee was totally committed to assisting the commission conduct hitch-free elections in 2015.