 The Chairman of the Independent National Electoral Commission, INAG Professor Makhmurya Kubu, says the commission will require 305 billion dollars to conduct the 2023 general elections. It is closed during a meeting with the Senate Committee on Appropriation at the National Assembly on Monday. He also noted that the amount will enable the commission to prepare the election and purchase all the election materials needed. The minister will also cover several by-elections across the country. He, however, stated that the commission had already received 100 billion dollars out of the required amount for the elections. Minwell, the Chairman of the Senate Committee on Appropriation, Senator Jibrin Barau, has disclosed that the 2022 budget will be laid, debated and passed on Tuesday, December 21, 2020. We are an executive body, so we submit our proposals to the National Assembly through the executive, and we made a submission for the sum of 305 billion for the 2023 general elections. It's a very comprehensive 22-page document with 260 budget lines. Now, in submitting the executive proposal to the National Assembly, the sum of 140 billion was made available to INEG as a one-line item in the budget. 140 billion was broken into two. We take it that the 40 billion is a regular budget as an agency of government, and the 100 billion was the first tranche towards the 2023 general elections, and we have gone ahead to make provisions accordingly. And then there is the outstanding 205. We are going to submit and consider, we are going to present and consider, and then the presentation will be tomorrow and the consideration will be tomorrow as well, by the grace of God. We have been waiting for them, they have given out the fullest information required from them, and we are proceeding to put together reports for our submission to the plenary tomorrow, God willing. We are going to present and then it's going to be considered tomorrow. We have joining us live now, Ambrose Bouquet, he is a public affairs analyst. Ambrose Bouquet, thank you very much for joining us. Thank you very much, Mary-Anne. Well the much talked about INEG requests for 305 billion to conduct elections of course has raised eyebrows, and I'm wondering, do you think INEG needs this much for the elections in 2023? We are going to conduct an election with her and something billion, that is almost a billion dollars. It's something that we have to start to think in our election process. We have to start thinking of how cost effective we can now conduct our elections. Because this has become almost a yearly budget head, each election cycle we try to spend humongous amount of money. I remember in 2015 we were talking about card readers, introduction of new technologies. Mr. Ambrose Bouquet has talked about the introduction of another new technology. So maybe the majority, a large share of the budget should go into hardware, into purchasing of digital equipment that will ensure more credibility in our election system. But again, it's not just about the figure, it's also about the inflation and then the falling spirit of the Naira against the dollar. Because when you look at it critically, everywhere there is inflation, we are not exporting anything. If you check out all those materials that I like, all the materials I like is used for the election, all of the materials are imported, all from the paper to the machines to the little things that we need to conduct the elections that are imported. Because we don't export anything, we don't even refine it. So basically, we are not exchanging in terms of the Naira to dollar parity. So it keeps going high, even the cost of domestic items have changed. So it may not be high in the aspect of it in terms of the real value of money, but the amount is high when you mention the share size of it. So sometimes let's look at it critically to know what can that actually buy in the international market because INEC has to buy everything. I remember that INEC is so centrally controlled that they need to pay for ad hoc staff, they need logistics, they need to print a ballot, so it's humongous then. And that is why some people have advocated that this election should be staggered. I mean, the election being done one time every year, every particular point of the year is going to cost a lot of money. Then after four years, what happened to the materials, what happened to the hardware that were purchased by INEC? Some of them have become obsolete, some of them have become upgraded, some of them become disused, some of them get spoilt. Then another four years, we start budgeting again. So we should look for a way of actually saving for another cycle of election, upgrading the technologies we have and not discarding them totally. For example, what are the card readers of the 2015 election? Where are they? We just discarded them like that, or have they put them in use for another national assignment? So we cannot just continue to be a wasteful nation like that. But does that not bring to question our botter thing? Don't forget, the National Assembly is on the 21st of this month going to lay the budgets, deliberate on it, and of course, see what they're going to do with it. But does that not cause a question, governance and policymaking? Because if we have to literally outsource everything, not even in Nigeria, but outside the country, it means, of course, we are one way or the other on the losing end, and that's why the budget is continuously inflated. So why can't we have policies that can help us to one way or the other find a way to maybe print most of these ballot papers within the country, try as much as possible to reduce the cost? I don't think that those things are far fetched if we decide to make these things happen within our borders. I may be able to tell you, you know, the addresses and contacts of these policy makers, and it would be very easy to actually reach out directly to them to answer this one million dollar question of why we could do this. We can do any of those things here, but a country that even imports a toothpick and tissue papers and paper for printing of his own textbooks and for printing of his own newspapers, a country that imports the only crude oil, the only commodity that has to export, which is the crude oil, is it cannot refine its locally, but has to send it out and bring it refined. So you cannot expect such a country to now start printing high sensitive materials like his ballot papers. Remember that even our currency at a very long time is being printed outside, though some of we are being told that he's not being printed when I don't mention a security company, what that thing is to be clarified and there was a time we're told that to print, why to print a five Naira note was using 30 Naira to print a five Naira note. So it is a country of legacy. It's a country of wastage. It's a country that doesn't know how to conserve for the future. It's a country that has nothing to offer to the world, apart from the human resources that we have in terms of goods, exchange of goods, instead of trade parity among other nations. We have nothing to offer. And therefore it's also a first INEC. But you can blame INEC, because INEC has a job to do. If papers are not produced in Nigeria, if the hardware is not produced in Nigeria, INEC cannot for the Zanasi to not conduct election, if we go to where it can source those materials and bring it so that we can have an election. Finally, I just want to take it because we don't have too much time. Let me quickly take you up on the electoral act. The bill that's right in front of Mr. President, it's yesterday made it 30 days. The ultimatum was 30 days for Mr. President to either ascend to it or send it back and make some comments on it. We've not heard from the president publicly. We heard Garba Shehu, the presidential aide, say that the president is not under any law to publicly make his comment or assent to the bill. But again, the National Assembly does have a duty to veto Mr. President or overrule him and pass that bill into law. So the question on everybody's mind is, does the National Assembly have the guts to do that, to veto Mr. President? Well, what is happening is that I, some people are not advising Mr. President very well. And one of the reasons I can clearly remember that was given was that it was going to be very expensive, for example, to run direct primaries. That is going to cost around over 500 billion a year, while already if there's no direct primaries and it's going to cost almost three or something billion already. Anywhere, INEC has come to deny that also, that they didn't say that. And I don't know what Garba Shehu is talking about, that the president doesn't hold Nigerians on his planation. He does. He thinks if he rejects something that the National Assembly, which is a miniature of representatives from all over the country, that I said that we will use this. And he said, no, for certain reason, those prisons should be advanced. And then they're split to Nigerians. And for this National Assembly, well, they have not been able to assert themselves in a very long time. So, as she said, Nigerians are waiting to see if this is what is going to happen. But I doubt very much that if we are going to defeat the president. Well, Ambrose Bokeh, thank you very much for speaking with us. We appreciate it. Thank you very much, Marianne. 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