The Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) has not yet received the funds necessary to mobilize ad hoc employees for the polls ten days before the presidential and National Assembly elections on February 25.
Since the Central Bank of Nigeria’s redesign of the N200, N500, and N1000 notes, Nigerians have struggled with a lack of naira notes (CBN).
The Supreme Court will continue to hear the three state governments’ lawsuits today that contest the application of the currency swap deadline.
Following a lawsuit filed by the governments of Kaduna, Kogi, and Zamfara states contesting the currency policy, the Supreme Court had on February 8 blocked the federal government from enforcing the cash swap deadline of the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN).
In a meeting with the governor of the CBN on the previous Tuesday, Prof. Mahmood Yakubu, the chairman of INEC, asked for concessions regarding the naira redesign policy. He specifically mentioned the restrictions on cash withdrawals and the need to make some cash available for some peculiarities that cannot be satisfied with electronic money transfers.
Emefiele had said that he would make sure the CBN was not perceived as a tool being used to sabotage the upcoming general election and that the apex bank would give INEC the naira notes they needed as needed.
But when the Resident Electoral Commissioner for the Federal Capital Territory (FCT), Alhaji Yahaya Bello, brought up the problem, it appeared that the fresh notes had not been made accessible to the electoral body before the election.
The cashless policy of the CBN, according to Bello, may make it difficult for the INEC to conduct the general election.
He said the commission requires money to be able to coordinate security and logistics, and that the dearth of the naira may effect this while speaking in Abuja at the North-Central stakeholders’ roundtable on the 2023 general elections, organized by the Centre for Transparency Advocacy (CTA).
He asserted that INEC would have trouble deploying personnel and election-related supplies in the FCT and throughout the country if nothing was done to solve the cash shortage brought on by the policies, as most services required cash to purchase.
However, he asserted that aside from the funding crunch, the commission was ready for the elections because it had received 80% of the polling place supplies and had educated employees in advance of the February 25 and March 11 elections.
Thanks for sharing. I read many of your blog posts, cool, your blog is very good.