2019 Polls: Police, Civil Defence demand N317m to feed Dogs & Horses ahead of the Elections
The Nigeria Security and Civil Defence Corps says it will need N310m to feed and administer drugs to dogs that will be deployed in states for the 2019 elections.
The Nigeria Police Force will also require N7m to feed 50 horses that would be used for patrol during the elections which will take place between February 16 and March 2, 2019.
According to Punch, this information is contained in the 2018 virement proposal sent to the National Assembly for the 2019 general election by President Muhammadu Buhari.
The total Police budget for the elections stands at N30.5bn; the Office of the National Security Adviser, N4.2bn; the Department of State Services, N12.2bn; NSCDC, N3.5bn and the Nigeria Immigration Service, N2.6bn.
Buhari, in a letter he wrote to the National Assembly on Tuesday, requested a total virement of N228.8bn, largely allocated to new projects “inserted” in the 2018 by the National Assembly to offset part of the proposed cost of funding the 2019 general elections. The balance of N242bn needed to fund the 2019 elections will be captured in next year’s budget.
According to the details of the 2018 virement request the President submitted to the National Assembly, the NSCDC needs N1.2bn this year to prepare for the elections.
The virement request reads, “Medical and general expenses for dogs, N143,782,000; feeding of dogs: N166,315,000. “Hiring of speedboats: N499,500,000; welfare packages (contingency of N7,000 per state and FCT) N259m; accommodation allowances for monitors: N185,000,000.”
According to the virement document, police election budget this year stands at N679m, with N7.7m earmarked for feeding of horses and N100m for printing of non-security materials. The police also asked for N87.5m for the maintenance of aircraft and N407m for maintenance of the vehicles to be used for election monitoring.
The budget states in part, “Feeding of 50 horses: N7, 719, 454; maintenance of existing vehicles for 2019 elections for the period of 20 days: N407, 400, 000.”
