Buhari wants Senate to approve N164bn for 2019 elections

President Muhammadu Buhari has asked the Nigerian Senate to give approval to a sum of N164 billion as supplementary budget to fund the 2019 general elections.

President Buhari said the supplementary budget would enable the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) begin preparation for the polls.

In a letter read by the Senate President, Bukola Saraki, at the plenary on Tuesday, Buhari said the amount required for the 2019 election is N242 billion.

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Buhari asked the National Assembly to remove a total of N228 billion as reinstatement from the ‘padded’ N578 billion in the 2018 budget to fund critical projects.

On June 20, the President, while delivering his speech during the signing into law the 2018 Appropriation Bill, said the lawmakers made cuts amounting to N347 billion in the allocations to 4,700 projects submitted to them for consideration and introduced 6,403 projects of their own amounting to N578 billion.

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