Jega: INEC Is Broke, Can't Pay Staff Salary

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.