INEC Spends N1,300 Per Voter’s Card - Jega

The Chairman of the Independent National Electoral Commission, INEC, Attahiru Jega, last month said the cost per voter in the February elections is $7.90 (over N1,300.00) bringing the total cost for the 68 million voters to about N90.2 billion.

He said the figure is $1.10 higher than that of the 2011 elections, despite the enormous technology it is currently deploying into the electoral process.

Mr. Jega stated in a paper he presented through a National Commissioner in the Commission, Lai Olurode, at a conference in Abuja adding that about 68 million Nigerians were expected to vote in the general elections.

“By our projection, next month’s election would cost less per voter than was the 2011 elections,” he said.

“In 2015, our projection is $7.90, the enormous technology that we are deploying into the electoral process, notwithstanding.”

Mr. Jega said like other government agencies, INEC was still facing funding challenges because of competing interests and diverse concerns of government, but that “the good news is that we have no cause to entertain doubts.”

According to him government agencies had been supportive as they did in 2011 and that there was an increasing awareness of the centrality of elections for the nation’s development.

He expressed commitment of the Commission “to transparency in the management of resources that are allocated to us and we make sure we get maximum returns on our investments.”