The Independent National Electoral Commission has lost about N7bn to the postponement of the presidential and National Assembly elections on Saturday.
INEC had earlier budgeted N32.2bn for the elections which should have taken place on February 16, 2019.
Of the total budget, N31.3bn was earmarked for for operational cost; N88.9m for election administrative cost; and N786m for miscellaneous expenses.
Despite the postponement, almost 25% of the budget has been expended so far. The unavoidable expenses already incured include N2.7bn for hiring 12-seater buses at the rate of N22, 500 per bus for transporting 1,376, 473 ad hoc workers; N247m for the deployment of ICT technical support staff to registration areas, supervisory area and polling units.
About N1.9bn had been expended on movement allowance for over 1.3 million polling officers and assistant polling officers for election duties.
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INEC had spent N1.8bn on election logistics, which included the movement, deployment and retrieval of men and materials for elections.
The sum of N424m was paid for the transportation, accommodation and internal movement of 33, 950 return officers and collation officers.
INEC also paid N525m to the CBN and the Nigerian Air Force for the storage and movement of election materials.
Repeating all this costs would amount to a total of N7.5bn extra bill.
The National Commissioner for Voter Education and Publicity, Mr Festus Okoye, did not confirm the amount lost.
“I cannot say for sure how much was spent. I don’t have the statistics,” he said.