Election Commission Requests 54 Billion Naira

Election Commission Requests 54 Billion Naira
Obiora Ani, Abuja

Nigeria 's Independent National Electoral Commission, INEC says it will require 360,000 personnel to execute the forth coming general election in April.

Chairman of the Commission, Professor Attahiru Jega, said this at the National Assembly, Abuja while defending INEC's request of 54 billion Naira as its 2011 budget.

Professor Jega said the commission would have three persons in each of the 120,000 polling units across the country.

He said that INEC needed nine point nine billion Naira to pay honoraria to the officials, which he said increased from the normal 5,000 per staff each day to 10,000 Naira.

The INEC boss said however, that the budget office presented a budget of 45 Naira to the National Assembly, which he said was nine billion Naira less than the commission's request.

Chairman of the Senate Committee on INEC, Senator Isiaka Adeleke, urged the electoral Commission to go back to the budget office to reconcile the differences between the commission's request and what was presented to the National Assembly.

Yinka