INEC Is Broke. We can't pay staff. - Jega

The leadership of the electoral commission disclosed this to members of the House of Representatives Committee on Electoral Matters who visited the commission’s  headquarters in Abuja on Wednesday.

Acting Chairman of INEC, Dr Abdulkadir Sulaiman, who represented Prof. Jega said “if we don’t do anything about it on time, we may not be able to pay salary by next month’’.

Following this development, the chairman called on the legislators to quickly intervene and save the situation, else the commission’s aspiration of conducting the 2015 general election in line with international best practice will be a mirage.

He also told the legislators led by the Chairman of the House Committee on Electoral Matters, Hon Jerry Manwe that the lack of fund has drastically slowed the pace of work on all the capital projects being currently executed by the electoral umpire.

Dr Sulaiman, explained that out of the N35 billion earmarked for the commission in this year’s budget, only N10 billion was released to it in March this year which was meant for the first quarter.

Honourable Jerry Manwe, has immediately summoned that the Accountant-General of the Federation (AGF) and the Minister of Finance to appear before the house to explain why the 2012 budgetary allocation of INEC is yet to be assessed by the commission at the last quarter of the year.