ABUJA — THE financial crunch hitting the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) appears to have deepened, as the commission is badly in need of N1.2billon to immediately offset its bills.
Already the electoral body is indebted to the tune of over N283.6million, arising from the non-payment of several months of accumuled rent, accommodation fees for the resident electoral commissioners, litigations and allowances of lawyers and others.
Sources close to the Commission told Vanguard that its inability to off set this bill has impacted heavily on its operations, adding that planning for 2007 election may be “hectic and shaky.” A break down of what the N1.2 billion may likely take care of, include: Residential accommodation for national commissioners and resident electoral commissioners amounting to N86.53million; litigations fees for lawyers, witnesses allowances\expenses which stands at N314million, non-payment of NEPA, NITEL and Water Board, amounting to N86.53million.
The commission also has not been able to pay rent for the WAEC office, which serves as its annex headquarters. The outstanding debt is put at N96million. The result of this cash crunch, Vanguard gathered in some instances, was the constant disconnection of services rendered by such parastatlas as NEPA, NITEL, etc, in the same way as its resident Electoral Commissioners are facing ejection by the end of the year, if the bills remained unsettled. Part of what the commission needs the N1.2billion aside from offsetting this huge debt is to also cater for the maintenance of its software and run its operational schedules.
Said the source, “The computing and communications equipment which we spent several billions to acquire cannot be maintained because we have no N240 million to do that.
“The commission also requires N140million for the licenses (subscription) fees and upgrading of its communications system, such as VPN, VAF and HF frequencies. We also need at least N60 million to repair and maintain our vehicles, most of which are broken down, in the same way as we need N98 million for maintenance and repairs of office buildings, and N42 milion for audit fees.”
In August, INEC chairman, Dr. Abel Guobadia revealed that only N7milion was approved for the commision by the Finance Ministry, out of the N800milion overhead charges it requested for in the 2004 appropriations. The commission got N697 in the 2003 appropriation- a far cry from what obtained presently. INEC, it was gathered, had written to the presidency drawing its attention to its plight but was yet to receive favourable reply to its request.
