2023: Elections Under Threat As CBN Yet To Release Money To INEC

The Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) with less than a week to the 2023 presidential and national assembly elections has allegedly not released funds to the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) and security agencies for logistics.

This is coming at a time Nigerians are faced with difficulty due to the cash scarcity experienced in the country.

According to Daily Independent, sources that spoke with the platform on Saturday claimed that the 2023 general elections could be in jeopardy.

The Chief Press secretary to the INEC Chairman, Rotimi Oyekanmi had earlier stated that INEC had presented its fund requirement to the CBN.

The Chairman of the electoral body, Mahmood Yakubu on Saturday also said that he is confident CBN will honour its cash request for the elections.

Yakubu, however, noted that logistics for the 2023 general elections require the use of physical cash.

The INEC Chairman stated this in Abuja after a tour of the training centre for INEC ad-hoc staff or presiding officers, and an inspection of facilities at the national collation centre at the International Conference Centre (ICC).

He said “We visited the CBN last week on the issue of cash for payment of some of the services, not all, some of the services that we are going to engage on election day.

“The bulk of payment for goods and services is made through electronic transfer. But there are certain critical services that will be remunerated by cash, and that’s why we went to the CBN and it’s a small percentage of the budget.

“The Central Bank has assured us that we will not suffer any encumbrances in that regard. So there are no issues with respect to that.”