President Muhammadu Buhari has requested the National Assembly to approve the sum of N228,854,008,215 from the 2018 budget to fund the 2019 general election and other critical projects in the country.

Buhari specifically told NASS to approve the N228.9 billion from N578, 319, 951.904 billion total projects sum inserted in the budget.

This is contained in a presidential memo dated July 11, 2018 read by Senate President, Bukola Saraki, on Tuesday.

If approved, the request titled: “Request for virement and supplementary 2018 budget” would cut deep into the controversial constituency projects funding for 2018.

The President said the aggregate cost of the 2019 elections is N242, 445,322,600.00

From the funds, the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) is expected to receive N189.207 billion while the Office of the National Security Adviser (ONSA) will get N4.2 billion.

The Department of State Services (DSS) will receive N12.213 billion while the Nigerian Security and Civil Defence Corps (NSCDC) will get N3.573 billion.

The Nigeria Police Force is expected to get N30.541 billion while Nigeria Immigration Service (NIS) will receive N2.628 billion.

The letter reads in part: “As you are aware, the 2019 general election is scheduled to be conducted early in 2019. To ensure that adequate arrangements are made for free and fair elections, it has become necessary to appropriate funds to enable the relevant agencies to commence preparations.

“INEC and security agencies have accordingly recently submitted their requests. These have been subjected to the usual budget evaluation. The aggregate cost of the elections is estimated at N242, 445,322,600.

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