Osinbajo: Cashless policy’ll help track election financing

Vice President Yemi Osinbajo says a cashless policy, when effectively operated in Nigeria, would help stem the surge of illicit election financing by making it possible to track funds.

Osinbajo said this while receiving a delegation of the EU Election Observation Mission led by Barry Andrews at the Presidential Villa in Abuja on Monday.

The EU Chief Observer is also a member of the European Parliament.

According to a statement issued by Osinbajo’s spokesman, Laolu Akande, the Vice President said: “I think that what we should be looking at is to provide more infrastructures.

“The cashless thing has been really advantageous and helps with tracking.

“That sort of infrastructure is useful for more financial inclusion and the more financial inclusion you have, the easier it is to track.

“So much money can be spent without it being tracked under the current election financing practices in the country.”

Osinbajo, who acknowledged the serious difficulty in controlling election financing over cash transactions, said there are still infrastructure issues required to be in place to ensure an efficient cashless system in the country.

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On electoral offences, the Vice President said the Electoral Offences Commission Bill was at the National Assembly.

He said he hoped that it would begin a new regime of dealing with electoral offences which would be helpful.

“By and large, one shouldn’t expect INEC to be the investigator of electoral offences.

“I think that law enforcement agencies should be responsible for arresting and prosecuting offenders, state by state.

“Electoral offences are always seen through a political prism; people will always feel that they are being prosecuted because they belong to a certain party.

“What is more important is that we have to find a system where the police could have a special unit for offences during the course of elections.

“The Federal High Courts could also have a special jurisdiction to deal with offences and not extend beyond the Federal High Courts,” Osinbajo added.

On the role of the judicial system, Osinbajo said more attention should be paid to the monitoring of tribunals and their outcomes, calling for more scrutiny from the National Judicial Council.

He disclosed that discussions had been had in the past concerning malfeasance on the part of some judges and those found guilty should be brought to the fore.

“There should be sanctions and that way, we would be able to clean up and correct some of the problems,” Osinbajo stated.

In his remarks, Andrews said the mission would be monitoring the next month’s general election, noting that he hope for a peaceful and fair electoral process.

Other members of the delegation include the Ambassador, EU Delegation to Nigeria and ECOWAS, Samuela Isopi; and the Deputy Chief Observer, EU Election Observation Mission, Thomas Boserup.

The Star