Jega Says Nigeria’s Treasury Single Account Is A Recipe For Electoral Disaster

Funding Nigeria’s electoral process through the newly-introduced Treasury Single Account can only lead to disaster, a former Chairman of the Independent National Electoral Commission, Prof. Attahiru Jega, has said.

Jega said this while delivering a keynote address at the 2015 e-Nigeria Conference, organised by the National Information Technology Development Agency which began in Abuja on Tuesday, reports PUNCH Newspaper.

The former INEC boss said the nation would have run into a constitutional crisis if there was any run-off election following the 2015 general elections, as the seven-day window allowed by law to conduct such an election was practically impossible.

He said, “To a large extent, effectiveness of electoral processes is conditional on availability of financial resources to deliver efficient services consistent with international minimum benchmarks and global best practices.

“Electoral processes cannot be effective if an election management body is starved of funds and/or has to go cap-in-hand to an incumbent executive begging for funds before it can conduct an election.

“The financial autonomy of INEC needs to be strengthened. It should continue to be on the first line charge and have all its funds released through the statutory transfer fund as appropriated by the National Assembly.

“Subjecting an electoral commission to the so-called Single Treasury Account, I believe, is a recipe for disaster.”

Apart from financial independence, Jega listed other factors that could make for effective electoral process to include strengthening the electoral legal framework through an amendment to the constitution and the Electoral Act and an improvement on the professional competence and administrative capacity of the electoral commission.

According to him, others are extensive knowledge-sharing amongst African EMBs; improvement of relations between INEC and all strategic stakeholders and partners in the electoral process; and increased use of adaptable technology for transparency and efficiency in the delivery of electoral services.