The Independent National Electoral Commission, INEC, Commissioner for Information and Voter Education, Mohammed Haruna, has announced that the commission has received over N500 billion, which accounts for more than 50 percent of the budget allocated for the 2027 general elections.

During an interview with Arise News on Friday regarding election readiness and funding, Haruna expressed that the disbursement of these funds is a positive development.

However, he also highlighted INEC’s concerns regarding outstanding debts from previous elections and the timely release of the remaining funds necessary to fully implement their plans.

He said, “Currently, we have received more than half of the allocated funds, approximately N500 billion or slightly more. This represents over 50% of the total amount.

“Naturally, there are still some issues to address. We have debts from the last general election due to insufficient funding at that time.

“We owe contractors around six billion, and from the statutory allocation of over 140 billion for that year, we still have an outstanding amount of over 20 billion. I believe it was just this month that the first 500 billion was released, about a week or two ago.”

In response to concerns regarding delayed funding, Haruna stated that INEC has already commenced preparations for the 2027 elections, which includes plans to acquire additional BVAS devices and other essential election materials.

“Certainly, we are concerned. Everyone shares this concern. Ultimately, the funds must be available. Therefore, it is encouraging news that more than half has been released.

“However, even prior to this, we have been engaged in extensive preparations. For example, the Director of ICT, along with another individual, traveled to China to finalize the importation of BVAS, which is crucial to our current electoral process.

“As I mentioned, in anticipation of this, we have been undertaking significant preparatory work,” Haruna emphasized.