2011 Elections to Cost N74 billion

The Independent National Electoral Commission will need N74 billion rather than the much publicised N72 billion to conduct a credible election in 2011, Atahiru Jega, the commission’s chairman has said.

Mr. Jega made the correction in the national assembly yesterday at the meeting between national electoral commissioners and the senate committee on INEC.

Mr Jega also said the amount must be made available to the commission before 11 August, to ensure optimal performance by the commission. “We realized that there was even an error in the calculation. We have corrected it and made it available to the executive where we first made that,” Mr. Jega said, adding that the commission is working with the higher figure because in planning higher figures are preferable. “We would not say give us N55 billion and we run into hitches with the preparation with the direct suppliers. If N74 billion is allocated and in the end we can only spend N55 billion, it is saving for the government.”

What’s it for exactly?

According to Mr. Jega, almost 50 per cent of the amount will be applied to voter registration while the rest will be used on voter education, logistics, staff training, and allowances.

“We are deploying 120,000 units because we do not have time.” Mr. Jega said. “With regards to direct capture alone, you want the best machine which is laptop based and not hand held, which has a very good resolution work camera and which has very good standard finger printing accessory and which has an extra power pack, just in case of the battery running down; also, we factored in some generating facility just in case everything fails - in our own country, you cannot guarantee anything - we have to take a lot of measure to see how we can improve on the situation.

“Now if you take all these into consideration, the cost of the direct capturing machine alone, the unit cost from what we have got so far - and that is not going through a vendor - the unit cost is about $2000. If you calculate $2000 by 120,000 units of machine at N152 per dollar you will get about $240 million that alone gives you N36.8 billion just for the equipment alone.

“If you are going to go through the vendor which is an option we are trying to avoid, then you have to factor at least 30% profit margin, so that in self raises the cost of the equipment to N55 billion.

“And then if you take the cost of the training, the cost of voter education which we have done, the logistical requirement in terms of transportation and also the allowances that has to be paid to the personnel whether they are for training purpose or for actual exercise, it comes to a lot of money.” Mr. Jega explained.

Support

The senate committee’s chairman, Isiaka Adeleke (PDP Osun State) promised the INEC commissioners that the money will be provided as requested.

Mr. Jega said the commission will conclude the voter registration by the end of the first week of November this year if the money is made available.