Naira crunch: CBN releases cash to INEC
The Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) has received cash from the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) for election logistics, Daily Trust reports.
A national Commissioner of INEC disclosed this to our correspondent on Thursday night.
There had been apprehension over the inability of INEC to get cash from the CBN even though its budget is a first-line charge. This was a result of the cashless policy introduced by the CBN with the support of the federal government.
INEC Chairman, Professor Mahmud Yakubu, during a visit to CBN governor, Godwin Emefiele said they needed cash rather than bank transfers to sort out many of their activities.
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The commission had explained that even though it does most of its payments through online transfers, some specific services have to be paid for in cash.
He said some of the service providers, especially transporters, are required to be paid in cash and besides, experience has shown that emergency situations do arise on Election Day, which could demand the use of cash by the commission.
Many observers had condemned the delay in releasing the funds considering that there are many hard-to-reach areas in many of the 36 states of the federation and the Federal Capital Territory (FCT), hence the need for early preparation, deployment of equipment and people that would officiate the election.
There was however a sigh of relief yesterday when some INEC officials confirmed that the monies have been released by the CBN.
