There seems to be no respite yet for the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) regarding its N 189.2 billion budget proposal for the 2019 general elections.
The joint committee of the National Assembly on Friday put on hold further consideration on the proposal as the legislators failed to resolve some grey areas in the proposal.
At issue was the differences in modalities between the estimates sent to the legislature by President Muhammadu Buhari and the version submitted to the lawmakers by INEC, even though the figures were the same.
In his letter to the National Assembly, the President had requested that N143 billion be processed for now, while the remaining N45 billion should processed with the 2019 annual budget.
But in its own proposal, the INEC requested that the N189.2 billion be processed in one fell swoop, a request that raised dissenting voices among the lawmakers.
Minister of Budget and National Planning, Udoma Udo Udoma who made a presentation to the committee, aligned with the position of INEC.
Apparently mindful of the delay in the passage of the yearly national budget, Udoma argued that shifting the processing of the N45 billion to the 2019 budget might put INEC in a tight corner.
For instance, the 2018 budget was passed in May, just as it was in the two preceding years. On the other hand, INEC would have concluded all elections by March 2019.
The Minister clarified that the N189 billion request, as presented by the President, was to be vired from funds already appropriated for some projects in the 2018 budget.
He was however, quick to clarify that the such virement would not affect the N100 billion already allocated to constituency projects of National Assembly members.
But the lawmakers were divided on whether to isolate the N143 billion meant for INEC from the N45 billion meant for the various security agencies for election duties.
The affected security agencies include the office of the National Security Adviser, the Department of State Services (DSS), the Nigeria Police, the Nigeria Security and Civil Defence Corps (NSCDC) and the Immigration Service.
Some of the legislators argued that the processing of the budget proposal for the security agencies was outside the committee’s mandate, opting to refer that aspect to the Security Committee of the two chambers of the legislature.
But some others canvassed that it should be accommodated in the ongoing process because the N45 billion budget for security was part of election expenses.
Another area of disagreement was the source of funding for the N189.2 billion with the lawmakers sharply divided over where over the matter.
In the course of deliberations, some of the committee members said the source of funding should be left to the Appropriation Committee of the National Assembly to decide.
In his letter to the National Assembly, President Buhari had raised issues about source of funding for the entire election budget, reason why he requested that only N143 billion be processed for now.
Relying on the President’s position, the lawmakers pointed out that processing the N189 billion at this point would overshoot the 2018 national budget, as passed by the legislature and assented to by the President.
At every point the chairman of INEC, Prof Mahmood Yakubu was given the opportunity to make his contribution; he kept reeling out the deadline for the first round of elections in the commission’s timetable by counting the days, hours, minutes and seconds.
At a point, some of the committee members jocularly said they were being intimidated by the INEC chairman’s time count.
Eventually, the meeting concluded that the committee would limit its consideration to the N143 billion the President tabled before the legislature for immediate action.
They resolved to commence deliberation on the N45 billion for the security agencies as promptly as the President presents that request to them, even before the end of the year.
On this note, the chairman of the Senate Committee on INEC, Senator Suleiman Nazif adjourned the session indefinitely.