The decision by the Independent Electoral Commission(INEC) to print election materials for the 2015 general election abroad has been the recent source of disagreement between the Presidency and the Commission.
The Commission which had in the past had its fair share of knocks and kudos for handling previous elections in Nigeria was said to be perfecting plans to print and import all the materials needed for the 2015 general election from abroad with hints that a South African firm is topping the list as the likely beneficiary.
Insiders revealed that some top officials in the Presidency frowned at such decision querying the plans by INEC to spend huge amounts of the country’s money to print electoral materials abroad when the Nigerian Security and Printing and Minting Plc (NSPMC) can do the job at lesser cost.

JEGA

The NSPMC is claimed to have the statutory mandate to print sensitive security materials in the country such as election materials and currencies but critics of INEC’s arrangement are worried that the commission appears to be bowing to pressure from opposition parties in a bid to waste scarce foreign exchange.
A source revealed that it has been very difficult for Jega and his team to convince President Jonathan’s economic management team on the need to print materials abroad.
The INEC team were said to have bordered its decision on fair-handling and the fears of penetration and duplicating of materials if it were to be printed in Nigeria, an excuse which was countered by the re-visit of the economic team on the lateness of election materials in the 2011 general election.
The Commission also made another attempt to hinge the decision on the need to ensure successful elections which critics also reminded them of the many State gubernatorial elections which have been successfully organised with the use of materials printed in the country.
The critics also point at the fact that the NSPMC has lately printed the Nigerian currency with security features that are comparable with the ones found on some of the world’s major currencies like the US Dollar and the Pound Sterling.
There are also indications that the attempt to print materials abroad may be a scheme by some top officials to siphon money out of the country.
The Chief Press Secretary to INEC Chairman, Professor Attahiru Jega, Mr Kayode Idowu in a recent interaction with online platform, The Post stated that there is no reason for INEC to disagree with the Presidency. He hinted that several companies have submitted bids to handle the printing of election materials and that the Commission was evaluating all of them based on its needs as it prepares for the 2015 elections, even though the NSPMC is the only firm in the=at line of business in Nigeria.
Idowu also hinted that when a bid is finally approved that the Commission might not make it public so that politicians do not infiltrate the organisation.