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How Cashless Policy Can Get Rid Of Illicit Election Financing In Nigeria – Osinbajo
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Vice President Osinbajo met with a delegation of the EU election observation mission on Monday.
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He spoke about the significance of an effective cashless policy.
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The country’s number two citizen also sought more scrutiny from the national judicial council on electoral offences.
Eko Hot Blog reports that Vice President Yemi Osinbajo has backed the enactment of a cashless policy throughout Nigeria’s economic system.
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He expressed his support for the policy when he received a delegation of the EU election observation mission led by Barry Andrews, on Monday.
According to a statement by Osinbajo’s spokesperson, Laolu Akande, the vice president said the effective operation of the cashless policy can reduce the surge of illicit election financing.
He also reasoned that an effective cashless policy will make it easy to track funds and will be useful for financial inclusion.
“I think that what we should be looking at is to provide more infrastructures,” Osinbajo was quoted as saying.
“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.’’
Additionally, the vice president explained how cash transactions make control of election financing more difficult.
“With cash transactions, it is still difficult to seriously control election financing,” he said.
Osinbajo added that there are still infrastructural issues required to be in place to ensure an efficient cashless system in the country.
On electoral crime, he said the National Assembly is currently considering the electoral offences commission bill.
The vice president expressed hope 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,” Osinbajo said.
“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.
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“The federal high courts could also have a special jurisdiction to deal with offences and not extend beyond the federal high courts.”
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