Public Affairs Analyst

Nigeria is at the threshold of breaking the jinx of her election debacle. With the elections already held and adjudged by local and international observer groups as largely free, fair and credible. Majority of Nigerians have also endorsed the credibility of the polls. It is not yet a perfect election but the verdicts of compatriots and foreign observers on 2011 General Elections are indeed heartwarming. In spite of the positive reactions on the about to be concluded elections, two major challenges still need to be surmounted. The first being the pockets of election related violence in some parts of the country. The second is that of enforcement of campaign finance regulations as contained in different legal frameworks viz. 1999 Constitution as amended; Electoral Act 2010 as amended; Companies and Allied Matters Act 1990 and Political Finance Manual and Handbook 2011. Some of the frontline candidates, in a bid to escape the breach of the various electoral codes, resorted to third party

The 2011 budget is supposed to signal the beginning of fiscal consolidation, but we now have another expansionary budget which is unimplementable. If we are to build our economy on a solid foundation and avoid the boom and burst of the past, it is critical that we embrace discipline in the way we manage public finances. We cannot continue like this – Olusegun Aganga, Nigeria’s Minister of Finance Even in this electioneering period, we must not lose focus of governance. Budget is key to governance and in Nigeria; it has been an albatross, as perennially, the country keep experiencing low budget implementation. On Wednesday, 16 March 2011, both chambers of the National Assembly passed a harmonised budget of N4, 971,881,652,689. Out of the sum, N2,467,168,724,129 is for recurrent expenditure, N1,562,999,158,775 is for capital expenditure, N445,096,682,115 was earmarked for debt servicing, and N496,617,087,670 for statutory transfers. The budget has oil price benchmark of $75 per barrel

Each generation must out of relative obscurity discover its mission, fulfil or betray it – Frantz Fanon The zero hour to the Nigerian April 2011 polls is imminent. According to the Chairman of Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC), Prof. Attahiru Jega, the Commission is fully ready to deliver on credible elections. He however posed a poser for other democratic institutions: Are the political parties ready? Is the media ready? Is the judiciary ready? Are the security agencies ready? Are the civil society organisations ready? As part of the preparations for the general elections, INEC has released the guidelines for the elections as well as the Notice of Polls in accordance with section 46 of the Electoral Act 2010 (as amended). According to the notice, the April elections will hold as follows: April 2 - National Assembly elections (i.e. Senate and House of Representative); April 9 - Presidential elections and April 16 - Governorship and State House of Assembly elections. Al