INEC has received needed fund for elections, says Jega

The Independent National Electoral Commission on Tuesday revealed that it has received all the funds it requires for the conduct of the next month’s general elections.
The Chairman of the commission, Prof. Attahiru Jega, who made the disclosure, pointed out that the next month’s elections will hold in the three insurgency prone North Eastern states of Borno, Yobe and Adamawa.
Prof. Jega, while addressing the media after the presentation of the voters’ register to be used for the elections to registered political parties, however, did not disclose amount voted for the elections.
He merely said the figure has been posted to the INEC website.
The INEC Chairman disclosed that 68,833,476 voters were registered for the elections.
The release of the register, according to him, is in line with the provisions of the law, which allowed for the publication of the list of voters, 30 days before the elections.
In his words: “Electoral framework requires 30 days to election.
“INEC will publish the register.
“The tradition was to make presentation to parties on the process for the preparation of the register.
“In compliance with the requirement of the law, INEC has now formally signed off the register for the conduct of elections in 2015.”
Jega assured Nigerians that the list will be published on the commission’s website while copies of the register, which are in hard drives, could be collected by political parties from Wednesday.
Jega further stated that the commission has so far distributed over 38 million Permanent Voter Cards, but admitted that there were many yet to be collected.
According to him: “To address this challenge, we have directed RECs (Resident Electoral Commissioners) to further decentralise distribution to ward level.
“We have also extended the time for distribution, which is now 8:30am to 5:30pm, Mondays to Saturdays.”
He added that the commission has taken delivery of additional PVCs from the contractors and expressed the hope that the outstanding cards will be distributed before January 28.
The INEC chairman disclosed that the commission has published the list of Presidential and National Assembly candidates for the February 14 national elections.
According to him, 14 candidates will contest the presidential elections, 739 ‎senatorial and 1,780 candidates will vie for the 360 seats in the House of Representatives.
The list of gubernatorial and House of Assembly candidates will be published on January 27.
Jega said elections will hold in Borno, Yobe and Adamawa States except in some local government areas occupied by insurgents.
He added: “INEC has always said it is preparing to conduct elections in all 36 states and the Federal Capital Territory, including the three North East states experiencing the challenge of insurgency.
“The commission, however, ‎will work closely with security agencies who have the constitutional responsibility for securing the election environment.”
Jega said INEC will use card readers for the election, disclosing that it has received 130,000 card readers and commenced distribution while the remaining will be received before January 21.
The Chairman of Inter-party Advisory Council,‎ Tanko Yunisa, commended INEC on the strict compliance of law.
Yunisa however requested that copies of the register should be presented to parties.
He also commended the commission for decentralising the distributions of PVCs, disclosing that IPAC has commenced public enlightenment on the collection of PVC starting with Abuja.
Twenty-three registered political parties attended the presentation of the voters’ register.