Why elections are expensive in Nigeria — INEC chairman

Yakubu made this disclosure on Friday in Lagos State at an interactive session with  the Nigerian Guild of Editors (NGE) tagged: ‘The Editors’ Forum,’ saying cost of logistics, highly-secured ballot papers, allowances for personnel, among other reasons, were responsible for the huge expense of elections in the country.

This was just as the INEC boss noted that in France, the ballot paper is like an A4 sheet as, according to him, it is unthinkable that anybody in that country will snatch the ballot paper, saying it was a different scenario in Nigeria where a ballot paper had to be printed to currency quality, and entrusted to Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) as well as “move the ballot  papers with all the protocols and security according to the movement of the national currency, just to protect the process.”

“This is not going to be done cheaply. So, we pay for cost of the lack of trust in the system,” Yakubu said.

Yakubu, however, said that Nigeria’s elections were not the most expensive if the entire cost was spread per head of the voting population projected to be about 95 million, even as he recalled that the poll exercises conducted in Ghana, Kenya and Guinea Bissau were more expensive if the voter population was considered per capital in relation to the cost.

“The cost in Nigeria, I think, is $9 per head as against what happens in other countries. Ours is not even the most expensive.

“The cost of elections in Nigeria in 2023 is N305 billion of the national budget of over N17 trillion. The cost of elections is just 1.8 per cent, not even up to two per cent of the national budget.

“Yes, while N305 billion is quiet a huge amount of money, we should see what the amount is spent essentially on. If we remove the technology cost, 60 per cent of the cost of elections in Nigeria is spent on logistics and personnel allowances,” he said.

Speaking further, the INEC boss said the commission would engage no fewer than 1.4 million Nigerians for the national and state elections for 2023, as ad hoc staff who would have to be paid and transported to their various locations, just as he noted that Nigeria was almost close to getting it right on electronic voting.

“I am sure as we continue to build trust and confidence in the process, the cost of elections will come down considerably,” Yakubu said.

On vote buying, Yakubu said that fighting the menace required the involvement of all stakeholders, including the media, adding that the commission had taken some steps to stem the tide and make it impossible.

Yakubu, who reiterated that the commission was committed to electoral justice, reassured Nigerians that rigging had been made difficult and impossible in elections ahead of the 2023 elections.

He said to this end, the commission had started cleaning of voter register, stressing that credible elections starts with the credible register of voters.

Yakubu, while saying that the quality of elections is a direct reflection of the quality of the environment, and the environment won’t change until quality elections that produce quality leaders was made possible, however, stressed that the choice Nigerians made in 2023 would impact for better or for worse their lives, just as he assured that the commission was poised about delivering an improved elections.

This was just he also identified security, national infrastructure, social media and attitude of politicians as part of the challenges that would define the 2023 elections.

“An election cannot be better than the environment in which it is conducted which include the security situation, social economic, political culture, national infrastructure among others.

“It is simply amazing the way INEC officials get to some villages to conduct elections. Our election cannot be better than the quality of our infrastructure.

“We can’t have a flourishing democracy without democrats. The attitude of political class is a big challenge. So, there are. big task ahead of us and we have no time.

“It is 161 days to the 2023 general election, we can make it work. Take it from this INEC that we are committed to electoral justice.  We have introduced reforms that we believe have taken us out of Egypt and we will never go back to Egypt,” he assured.

President of NGE, Mr Mustapha Isah, earlier in his welcome address, said that Nigerian journalists should be genuinely interested in the nurturing and deepening of the democratic space because they played a key role in the fight for the restoration of democracy in this country.