With barely a year to the much-anticipated 2027 Nigerian general elections, the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) has presented an audacious budget of N873.78 billion to effectively execute the exercise next year.
News.ng reports that the proposed budget was presented before the joint committee of the Senate and House of Representatives on electoral matters on Thursday.
The INEC chairman, Professor Joash Amupitan, who appeared before the committee to defend the proposal, presented the budget in categories.
The bulk of the proposed budget — N375.75 billion — will be used to execute election operations, which will cover the organisation, management and delivery of free, fair, transparent and credible 2027 general elections.
Another category of the proposed budget is technology costs, put at N209.21 billion, which reflects the commission’s drive to adopt more technology in the electoral process following growing advocacy by the Nigerian public for a legal backing of electronic transmission of election results.
Another notable highlight of the proposed budget is the administrative costs of N92.31 billion, which will be used to run the entire operations of the commission, including workforce logistics.
Capital expenditure stands at N154.90 billion for the procurement of physical infrastructure, while N41.61 billion has been budgeted for miscellaneous expenses.
The joint committee of the two chambers of the National Assembly will convene at a later date to carefully examine the proposed budget for approval.
