Prof. Okechukwu Ibeanu, the Chief Technical Adviser to the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC), said in Jos on Thursday that government should reconsider the funding of political parties.
Ibeanu made the suggestion at a “National Conference on Political Parties and Democracy” at the National Institute of Policy and Strategic Studies, Kuru, near Jos.
He said he was favourably disposed to a situation where funding of political parties would be based on the activities of the party.
According to him, this is to guard against the situation in the past where some political parties see the money as handouts for the founders’ survival.
“Funding of parties should be programmed and specific.
“There is need to tie funding to particular programmes to avoid the trend where individuals establish political parties to attract funding for personal use.’’
He commended the cordial relationship between INEC and political parties.
“This has culminated into quarterly meetings where inputs of the parties are obtained in the formulation of INEC guidelines for political parties.’’
Ibeanu said INEC cannot fund political parties for now, because the National Assembly had not made any law empowering it to do so.
“The National Assembly has not appropriated fund for such purpose, INEC does not have the fund,” he said.
He said that the law empowering INEC to deregister political parties was discretional and that the commission had been reluctant in applying it.
He regretted the silence of political parties in the entire process of review and amendment of the Electoral Act.
Dr Jibrin Ibrahim of the Democratic Governance for Development Projects, commended INEC for working to return credence to the electoral process.
He advocated the return to funding of political parties in order to strengthen the electoral process.
Ibrahim said there was need to inculcate civility and ideology in the political parties.
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