The Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) has announced that the 2023 general election will gulp N305bn.
According to the commission, the amount is N116bn higher, compared to N189bn expended on the 2019 general election, TrackNews reports.
The INEC Charman, Prof. Mahmood Yakubu made the disclosure in Abuja on Thursday during the public presentation of the 2022-2026 Strategic Plan (SP) and the 2023 Election Project Plan (EPP).
Yakubu disclosed that the commission will spend N239.2bn to procure voting materials and vehicles for the election and spend N105.2bn to purchase accreditation devices.
The INEC boss said N23.7bn would be spent on the allowance for ad hoc workers, who will be more than one million people, while N23bn was set aside for election logistics expenses.
He revealed that the electoral agency will spend N239.2bn, which constitutes 78.44 percent of the budget, to purchase ten critical electoral items.
The INEC chairman listed the items to include ballot papers, operational vehicles, ballot boxes, allowances of ad hoc workers, printing of result sheets, logistics and procurement of accreditation devices.
He added that N27.1bn out of the N239.2bn budget would be set aside by the commission for possible run-off elections, including the one for the presidential poll.
Yakubu said the commission will spend N20.6bn on the printing of ballot papers and N12.7bn on the procurement of non-sensitive materials, while N3.9bn would be spent for the procurement of operational vehicles.
He added that the commission set aside N9.5bn for the printing of result sheets, N7.8bn for the procurement of ballot boxes and a separate N5.39bn for the same purpose.
