The Senate has finally approved the sum of N234.51 billion for the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) for the 2019 elections.
The approved sum is about N7.9 billion less than the N242.45 billion requested by President Buhari.
The Senate also approved that the total sum of N189 billion which will be for the funding of the 2019 elections be moved from both recurrent and capital components of the special intervention programme.
It will be recalled that the Senate Committee on Appropriation had approved President Muhammadu Buhari’s request for the virement of N242 billion under the 2018 Appropriation Act to conduct the 2019 general elections.
Chairman of the committee, Danjuma Goje, stated this at the committees’ meeting saying its decision would be laid before the full house for consideration at plenary on Thursday.
Goje said the decision to approve the president’s request was informed by the urgent need for funds by the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) to begin preparations for the polls.
President Buhari asked the lawmakers to consider including the total N242 billion as part of the virements of the 2018 Appropriation Act being requested by INEC and security agencies to conduct the 2019 general elections.
In a July 11 request to the legislature, the president had asked that N164 billion out of the N242 billion be vired in the 2018 budget, and the balance of N78 billion included in the 2019 budget.