Mahmood Yakubu, chairman of the
Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC), says the commission followed
the 2019 budgetary provision despite pressure to accommodate some of its
activities.
He said this while addressing the
national assembly joint committee on budget defence in Abuja, on Thursday.
The INEC chairman said the
commission’s budget status gives it the flexibility to move funds from one head
to another in the bid to meet the demands of its mandate.
Babangida Ibrahim, representing
Malumfashi/Kafur federal constituency of Katsina state, had asked a question on
INEC’s extra-budgetary spending on overheads and group insurance items in the
2019 budget.
He requested the commission to disclose
its other sources of revenue to warrant an expenditure above the approved
expenditure in the budget provision.
Yakubu said the commission was
faced with pressure as some of its activities were time-bound and needed to be
accommodated.
“There are some activities we
needed to undertake constitutionally and they are time-bound,” he said.
“At that time we received no
money for the 2019 general elections and we operate a one line budget. Recall
that if you look at the Appropriation Act of 2018, the only thing you see there
is N45.5bn and we have to prioritise and re-prioritise within the envelope.
“We did not go outside the
envelop. It was just a very difficult thing for us, I understand the point made
by honourable Babangida, honestly it has been recurring, the argument here is
that we moved funds from one head to another and did we now apply for virement?
“That is what I think it is
leading to. It was almost impossible for us to conduct the 2019 general
elections without looking at the budget and operating within the envelop
allotted to us.
“You will not see this kind of
thing happening in 2019, in 2020 it is not there, it was just a sheer pressure
to accommodate these activities, now, biometrics and the pre-election
activities, I thank God for the framers of our constitution is that we are on
the one-line charge, we did not operate outside the envelope.”
He said the time-bound activities
of the commission as provided in the constitution put pressure on its decisions
and activities.
He said INEC was still able to
work with the budget only that funds were sought internally to hasten its
operations.
“Our assumption is that there is
room for some flexibility in that respect that is why when the envelope is
given and the budget is appropriated, all you see is a one liner. I completely
understand the point that you are making, but I hope you understand the
tremendous pressure we were under,” he said.
“For instance the constitution
will specify that party primaries must be conducted X number of days, not
earlier than X number of days, not lesser than X number of days.
“If we do not conduct the
elections within the time stipulated, somebody will go to court and it
increases the pressure on the resources of the commission and we have to get
lawyers to defend the commission, I guess the one-line budget gives the
flexibility. In the overall we have operated within the envelope.”
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