INEC AND CHALLENGES OF MONITORING POLITICAL PARTY CAMPAIGN FINANCING IN NIGERIA
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INEC AND CHALLENGES OF MONITORING POLITICAL PARTY CAMPAIGN FINANCING IN NIGERIA
1.1 BACKGROUND OF THE STUDY
Democracy is a system in which the people control the government and are treated equally in the exercise of that control. Uneven access to political financing, on the other hand, adds to an uneven political playing field.
In Nigeria, campaign financing has been a serious issue. Significant and unregulated political money frequently creates an unequal playing field in election campaigns. Money gives certain parties and/or candidates an unfair advantage over others.
Candidates with the greatest money almost usually win the election or party nominating process. Large disparities in funding levels between parties and candidates limit prospects for political competition and tend to disenfranchise challengers.
The most common cause of an uneven playing field is that the ruling party or incumbent candidate controls the political apparatus and uses it to its own advantage and the disadvantage of competitors. The budgetary requirements
The costs of entering electoral competition appear to be increasing, resulting in political exclusion of individuals who cannot afford the cost. Another source of concern is that elected politicians are more accountable to those who fund their campaigns rather than to their people.
Political decisions are dominated by large corporate or single donor funding for parties and politicians, and political corruption is a national problem that threatens Nigeria’s economic growth, democracy, and stability. Almost all recent big financial and corruption scandals have been tied to campaign and political financing.
The tremendous rise in campaign spending in several countries has aggravated the situation. Because of the massive sums of money involved in some political campaigns, persons without access to substantial private finances are unable to compete on the same level as those who are well funded.
There is no doubt that political parties require funding in order to participate in the political process. At the same time, the influence of money in politics is undoubtedly the most serious danger to global democracy today.
This menace is visible on all continents, from massive corporate campaign contributions in the United States to drug money infiltrating Latin American politics to corruption scandals in Africa and Europe.
Evidence suggests that huge segments of the global electorate believe their leaders are more interested with making money than with representing citizens’ interests.
Sponsorship of a political party or candidate in Nigeria today is practically a business investment that the investor must return after their candidate is elected to public office. Because of the peculiar nature of Nigeria’s socioeconomic environment,
which is characterised by hunger and literacy, electors and government agencies are vulnerable to manipulation by corrupt politicians who take advantage of insufficient electoral laws, which creates a leeway to unlimited access to political finance sufficient to destroy the electoral process.
In each democratic election, how political parties finance their campaigns is essential. Researchers from the University of Ibadan in Nigeria and the Centre for the Study of African Economies (CSAE) at the University of Oxford in the United Kingdom conducted the study.
Investigated how Nigerian political parties fund their campaigns. The most significant question was how much campaign funding influences electoral victory. The important findings are as follows:
Candidates spend a considerable portion of their personal savings to run for office. This means that only those ready to invest big sums of money can become candidates. Money influences who wins elections by distorting the candidate selection process within parties.
Because of a lack of understanding, electoral regulations dictating how parties should secure and spend their finances are ineffective. As a result, such rules are difficult to enforce Okunade et al (2009).
1.2 Statement Of the Problem
Since its independence from Britain in 1960, Nigeria’s political history has been a cycle of authoritarian military regimes with occasional interregna of civilian governments. Over the years, reinter politics in Nigeria has been characterised by the dominance of ‘electoral machines’ run by political entrepreneurs mostly comprised of wealthy former military commanders and their civilian corporate Cronies.
Today’s major political parties in Nigeria are little more than grand aggregations of the respective electoral’machines’ of the country’s leading political financiers. Many Nigerian politicians are’sponsored’ by local and regional power brokers and political entrepreneurs who fund their political campaigns.
The’sponsorship’ is effectively a business transaction in which the patron recoups the ‘investment’ through public works and procurement contracts, prebendal appointments of cronies to public offices, and other types of prebendal activities by the ‘client’ politician upon taking power.
In some circumstances, if the patron and client failed to define the dimensions of the return on investment with sufficient precision, or the client refused to deliver on the agreed-upon terms, the fallout has resulted in widespread violence and political destabilisation.
In various nations, political party financing has been cited as a cause of corruption. Among the most important tools are political finance rules and regulations, which require political parties and candidates for political office to disclose their financial sources.
Recent history has seen the pooling of resources from all across the world into a global awareness network against the unrestrained use of money in politics. This research is part of the debate and will seek to investigate different types of political party finance in Nigeria, emphasise the role of INEC and its shortcomings, and make recommendations for the future.
1.3 objectives of The research
The primary goal of this study is to investigate the function of the Inec and the issues of monitoring political party campaign financing in Nigeria. The project also has the following particular goals:
1. To investigate the sources of funding for political campaigns.
2. Emphasise INEC’s role in monitoring political campaign financing.
3. Examine the political legislation and financing controls available to Nigerian political parties.
4. Highlight the difficulties that INEC and other regulatory authorities confront in monitoring political campaign financing.
1.4 Research Questions
During the course of this research, the following questions will be addressed:
1. Has INEC conducted a review and audit of the political parties’ accounts?
2. Do all political parties keep track of all contributions made to campaign funds?
3. What steps have been taken to sanction corporate bodies that contributed to political party campaign funds in complete disregard of section 38 (2) of the Company and Allied Matters Act (1990), which prohibits donations or gifts of any of its property or funds to a political party or association?
4. How has political money influenced political parties’ election candidate selection?
1.5 Research Hypothesis
The theories listed below have been created and will be tested in the
This research will go the following paths:
Ho: There are no substantial challenges to monitoring political party campaign financing in Nigeria.
Hello, there are considerable problems to monitoring political party campaign money in Nigeria.
1.6 Significance of the Research
The desire and need for the research, reader, and organisations in general to comprehend the role of Inec and the challenges of monitoring political party campaign financing in Nigeria has compelled this study.
The following are the study’s implications for the researcher:
1. To act as a resource for students who wish to perform similar research on this topic.
2. To act as a guide for business individuals and organisations conducting study on the issue.
1.7 Scope of the Research
The analysis is limited to the role of Inec and the problems of properly tracking political party campaign fundraising in Nigeria.
1.8 Definitions of Terms
1. Campaign funding
All funds raised to promote candidates, political parties, or policies in elections, referendums, initiatives, party activities, and party organisations are included in this category. The funds may also detract from the above-mentioned opponents.
2. PARTY POLITICAL;
This is a group of people who seek to achieve common goals through the acquisition and exercise of political power.
3. THE ELECTION;
An election is a formal decision-making process in which a population choose a person to serve in public office.
4. CAMPAIGN FOR POLITICS;
This is a concerted effort to sway the decision-making process inside a certain group. Political campaigns are frequently used in democracies to refer to electoral campaigns in which legislators are elected or referendums are held.
Inec and the difficulties of tracking political party campaign money in Nigeria
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