 Welcome back to the breakfast on plus TV Africa now We head straight to a second conversation where we look at the cost of election, of course in Niger now the Chairman of INEC Professor Mammoud Yukob Yukobu says that we need 305 billionaire, you know to conduct the 2023 elections However, he's also said that 140 million has been made available if I'm not mistaken We also will be looking at you know the cost of conducting elections in Niger now some quarters are saying this does not make sense We do have a dig barrel Nuruddin who joins us. It's a public affairs analyst. Good morning at dig barrel Nuruddin Okay, so let's start off this conversation on this note now looking at the costs in 2011 according to INEC we spent 112.9 billionaire for the exercise and that's for 73.5 million voters now in 2015 We spent 108.8 billionaire for 68.8 million voters and it rose to 242 billion in 2019 elections and that's the much that I have and now we're looking at 305 billion does this is this realistic because some peasants have said this is unrealistic. It doesn't make sense. What are your thoughts? Well in Nigeria our budget system is empty in all ramifications from the executive arm of government to the legislative arm of government even some parts of the judiciary are part although we know that to the one of the judiciary, but in terms of the high net as much as a lot of halls really wants to have a very good election at every point in time looking at it historically from 1999 2023 2027 2011 2015 2019 then up to the one we are looking up to 2023 if you look at that amount and considering our financial status in Nigeria the money is huge but at the same time if you look at what is being projected for legislative arm of government and executive arm of government and the value they are going to give us then you know that the one of high net we can't take it too much if we consider all that harm of government and another thing again there is this the high net is looking up to like a eighth or not election before 2023 election apart from the state elections we are having three better odds of representative elections there are six assembly elections and also there is going to be you know AKP and we are also looking at those elections the money in terms of our financial balance is huge but when we are looking at the values of having a very credible election and the type of election we want to have in 2023 the money is not too much for one thing we have to look at can you hold on what you are saying is now you are equating credible elections to costing more money what you are saying is the more money we spend the likelihood of having free and fair elections is that what you are saying well we know that the money is so important in our own policy because there are some certain things if some certain things are all right in our environment we don't suppose to have the kind of local project like our electoral system look at it for a reason there are some certain things that are going to be mobilized even the security operatives if I need to tell us how to spend in the area of mobilization which is not supposed to be so if you know how much they are spending on transportation on the day of election which is not supposed to be so if we have indigenous technology we don't suppose to spend as much as that look at the beef ourselves in produce if it is locally produced then automatically the price will go down it will be in our own environment although that amount will never bring out the food results because it doesn't say because we are spending huge amounts of money that you are going to have free and pure elections free and pure elections apart from the politicians it has to do with the electorate it has to do with the structures that have been on ground what are the structures in terms of security we are talking about police officers is it police officers that will not be giving feeding allowance or it's not going to be welfare until the election or you will not see a place to buy food until the election I've covered elections and I've seen a police officer from more than 2 o'clock he will not have opportunity to eat tell me if a politician brings the food wouldn't he eat then another thing they gave him that police officer that police officer will eat with or without the elections the elections aren't necessarily meant to feed that police officer if there are no elections on that day he will find a way to eat so it's a failure of the Nigerian police force itself to be able to cater for its officers it's not necessarily a failure of INEC to cater for officers conducting elections the Nigerian police force itself and the allegations of corruption that have also plagued that system that's what has failed to provide for that officer and yes I agree with you that INEC should make its own provisions for catering for the people who will be participants and people who will enable the elections to take place but that doesn't defend a police officer not being able to eat another thing that I would mention is some people might argue that this is just inflation and the fact that everything has gone up in price in the last 10 years in Nigeria so you'd expect that the cost of elections would also increase but does this also tell you that it not very much has changed with Nigeria as a country that should have made elections a lot cheaper Mr. Nuruddin can you hear me I can hear you yes go ahead I agree that you know on the day of the elections Nigerian police officers on duty on that day is part of the property of the INEC on that particular election in fact they are critical players so that in that election if there are 40 then the election will be mentioned in comparison so I go where you can really put police officers or security officers on duty on the day of the elections of the three and clear elections and looking at the environment now everything is costly we agree but when we are looking at that amount compared to what is a max for education for security and all that of our environment then the money is too high but if you look at the value that is going to bring to us at a political environment then it is not too much because everything we do depends on the oppose of good credit to election that credit to election no matter how much is going to put on our table we have to put it on but every month allocated by National Assembly to INEC must be purely accounted for any act of corruption inside this National Assembly month that is what is important okay so I'm also still trying to understand why INEC would have to cater for the need of police officers on the day of the election I mean we should be looking at other issues yes I know that there might just be provision for refreshment and all of that but it feels like the bulk of the money will be spent on catering for the police officers who would be actually working on that day of elections but moving away from that now let's also look at some of the arguments surrounding the cost of conducting elections because it feels like we seem to be increasing maybe next year it's going to be a different figure and tell after the general elections now some people say that civil servants are responsible for this and that's because they have actually inflate the cost of prizes they inflate the figures of the reason why we constantly have the high cost of conducting elections year in and year in well we can all rule it out anything that involves civil servants in our environment you will know something must be subtracted something must be multiplied something must be divided you must be spending something inside it but we have to consider something I make ones to prepare for an election the election they prepare for in 2019 and not be the same election they are going to provide for in 2023 and don't forget the electoral devices they are used in 2019 is different from the one of 2023 and don't forget look at the one of the is different from the of 2019 so maybe what we just need to do is this we should fix the the and the that we want to use now automatically we should not be part of what we are going to pay for in another subsequent election that one is one if we fix the area of that electronic devices used in the election automatically that money should not survive again although the way we run our budget system in Nigeria is very very wrong and is so corrupt in nature look at the election for the presidency vice presidency national assembly you would see a thing reoccurring every year like a TV set computer is it every year we buy cotteries in our various houses is it every year we buy a computer set is it every year we buy radio sets our budget system that are very wrong so if the issue of defense has been dealt with in 2003 2002 budget system we are talking about we should not hear about it again it should be fixed on the south in their on the south they rely majorly on adoptability in every election who is going to make them to be paying more at every point in time so there is no election only they are put up and really without the the artist and from the adoptive final question and if you can respond to this in 10, 15 seconds would you expect or would you want that the INEC chairman professor Mahmood Yakubu a proper breakdown of how they have put together 305 billion Naira as their budget for elections would you want to see what exactly that money will be used for logistics electoral materials and the likes I can't hear because I'm very well I'm asking would you want and do you expect that Nigerians would like to see a proper breakdown of what exactly 305 billion Naira will be used for by the INEC chairman because we can simply name figures you know but if we do not have a proper questioning and proper auditing as to what exactly these funds will be used for then we're throwing money away so would you you know as a Nigerian demand that the INEC chairman gives a proper breakdown as to how he arrived at 305 billion Naira is not about just giving us a figure of 40 billion Naira annually then 305 billion Naira for an election we want to see the breakdown from the beginning it will be hanged the kind of budget system we are still operating in Nigeria across all the ministries and agencies they are too secretive they are masquerading the budget system they should break it down for us irrespective of the number of pages let us see if you are going to buy computer sets how many computer sets are to work today if you are going to buy V-FAC electronic devices how much is one let us know how many pieces do you want to buy if you are going to spend on ad hoc planning how many ads do you want to recoups how much per day not on the day of the election you will be giving them 500 Naira 100 Naira 1000 Naira to go and eat if you are going to spend on transportation how much are you spending on transportation how many buses are going to evolve in how many states if you are going to pray for all that logistic break it down let us see if if all our budget system can be well explicit for us to see which are now determined if the money is valuable compared to the services that INET wants to render if they can comment your rate if it is logical if it is irismentically with the book of finances we have Mr. Nuruddin would have to wrap up here and that's why I wanted a very brief answer with the last question thank you very much for joining us this morning we hope to have another conversation about this hopefully if there is a breakdown thanks for joining us once again alright thank you and this is where we say goodbye this morning thank you very much for your time a couple of days to Christmas it's the Christmas season here in plus TV Africa we wish you a very very interesting day ahead I am Osaugi Obrar and I am Mr. Obrar it's ok to follow the conversation if you missed out on any part of it on Facebook and Instagram subscribe to our YouTube channel it's a plus TV Africa lifestyle so have a wonderful day