Cashless policy can stop illicit election financing – Osinbajo

Vice President Yemi Osinbajo says the cashless policy in Nigeria curb illicit election financing by making it possible to track funds when effectively operated.

He stated this on Monday at the Presidential Villa, Abuja, when he received a delegation of the European Union Election Observation Mission led by Mr Barry Andrews, the Chief Observer, who is also a member of the European Parliament.

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

“I think that what we should be looking at is to provide more infrastructure.  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”.

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Noting the serious difficulty in controlling election financing because of cash transactions, he said there are still infrastructure issues required to be in place to ensure an efficient cashless system in the country. 

“With cash transactions, it is still difficult to seriously control election financing,” he said.

In his remarks, Andrews said the Observer Mission would be monitoring the February elections and hope for a peaceful and fair electoral process.