Ongoing efforts to fast-track the consideration and passage of the 2024 Appropriation bill were stalled on Wednesday following the absence of the Chairman of the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC), Professor Mahmood Yakubu.
As encapsulated in the Statutory Transfers of the N27.504 trillion expenditure proposed in the 2024 Appropriation bill paid before the joint session of the National Assembly, the sum of N40 billion was approved by the Budget Office for the Commission.
Worried by the development, concerned members of the House of Representatives Committee on Electoral Matters expressed displeasure at the failure of the INEC helmsman to appear before the Standing Committee for the defence of the 2024 budget estimates.
At the budget defence in Abuja, INEC officials did not show up, prompting the House Committee on Electoral Matters Chairman, Hon. Adebayo Balogun, to adjourn the sitting.
He said, “It is unfortunate that INEC is not here, and that is not a good way to start a new administration, especially not when the President gave a matching order that he wants to maintain the January to December budget cycle.
“I don’t know what has caused their inability to be here. I have personally been working to ensure that the integrity of INEC, which was battered during the last election, is restored.
“This Committee is working on reforms that will restore the credibility of the Commission.
“I want to believe that there will be a genuine reason for their inability to appear before the committee to defend their budget.
“I learnt that the envelope they were given came to them as a shock because they were given less than what they got last year, and that is the more reason why they should have been here,” he said.