According to the 2023 General Election Project Plan that was launched by INEC in Abuja on Thursday, the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) will spend not less than N239.2bn on procuring voting materials and vehicles that will be used in the 2023 general election.
The commission stated that N239.2bn, which constitutes 78.44 per cent of its N305bn budget, would be spent on 10 critical items which included ballot papers, operational vehicles, ballot boxes, allowances of ad hoc workers, printing of result sheets, logistics and procurement of accreditation devices.
Also included in the N239.2bn budget is the N27.1bn set aside by the commission for possible run-off elections, including the one for the presidential poll.
The Chairman of INEC, Prof. Mahmood Yakubu during the public presentation of the 2022-2026 strategic plan and the 2023 Election Project Plan in Abuja said that no amount of security challenges would stop the conduct of the 2023 general election.
Yakubu’s assurance came barely days after elder statesman, Chief Afe Babalola (SAN), called on the country to set up an interim national government next year instead of holding an election. He proposed that the interim government would birth a new constitution after which elections would take place.
Others had also expressed fears over the security situation in the North-West and the South-East which could scuttle the elections.
