2023 elections: INEC budgets N239bn for poll materials, logistics

The Independent National Electoral Commission has announced that the commission will spend above ₦239.2bn on the 2023 General Election Project.

The commission states that ₦239.2bn, would be spent on ten critical items. These items are ballot papers, operational vehicles, ballot boxes, allowances for ad hoc workers e.tc.

The N27.1 billion put aside by the commission for prospective run-off elections, is also in the N239.2 billion budget. The Run-off elections are in an event where there is no clear winner in a poll.

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A breakdown of the 2023 General Election Project Plan shows that the procurement of accreditation devices incurred the highest amount. The accreditation devices are stipulated to cost ₦105.2bn.

The allowance for ad hoc workers is pegged at ₦23.7bn. A ₦23bn also set aside for election logistics expenses, including movement, deployment and retrieval of materials for the elections.

INEC will also spend ₦20.6bn on printing ballot papers and ₦12.7bn on the procurement of non-sensitive materials. The commission also set aside ₦9.5bn for printing result sheets. Two bills, ₦7.8bn and ₦5.39BN each set aside for the procurement of ballot boxes. A ₦3.9bn set for procuring operational vehicles by the electoral body.

In a diagram illustrating a comparative analysis of the 2019 and 2023 general election budgets; INEC notes that while ₦189bn sets aside for the previous elections, the 2023 general election will gulp N305bn.

It noted that while the country had 84 million registered voters in the last elections, it would have about 100 million voters next year.

Also, while 119, 973 polling units existed in the previous election, the next elections would have 176, 846 polling units.
It also noted that while the average cost per voter was $7.38 in 2019, it had dropped to $5.39 per voter.