The Inter-Party Advisory Council (IPAC) has again called on the Lagos State Independent Electoral Commission (LASIEC) to reduce its fees for nomination forms, to enhance inclusiveness.
IPAC, the umbrella body of political parties in Lagos state, made the call on Tuesday, in a statement by its Chairman, James Adeshina and Secretary, Olusegun Jaiyeola in Lagos.
LASIEC had fixed the conduct of elections in the 20 Local Governments and 37 Local Council Development Areas in the state for July 24.
The News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) reports that IPAC, on April 23, shortly after the LASIEC’s consultative parley with leadership of political parties, called for reduction of nomination form fees because of the global economic recession.
It said that a reduction would also encourage more participation.
However, LASIEC Chairman, retired Justice Ayotunde Philips, in the guidelines issued on April 24, said the commission had fixed N150, 000, N100, 000 and N75, 000 as nomination forms fees for the chairmanship, vice-chairmanship and councillorship candidates, respectively.
In the renewed call, IPAC, in the statement, appealed to LASIEC to reduce the fee for chairmanship aspirants to N50, 000 as against N150, 000.
It also said that of councillorship aspirants should be reduced to N20,000 as against N75,000.
“We appreciate the level of readiness and preparedness of LASIEC toward the forthcoming council election slated for July 2021.
“The IPAC, comprising of all political parties participating in the coming election, had a meeting on May 10 and resolved that the cost of the form should be reduced.
“This reduction is necessary considering the effect of COVID-19 pandemic on the nation’s economy which we are all still trying to survive, and the fact that same form was sold for ₦50,000 during the last LG Election,” the IPAC said.
It noted that there was no provision for collection of fees for the vice – chairmanship aspirants in the LASIEC Law 2008 (as amended) hence; aspirants seeking such position should be exempted from paying.
The IPAC further said that the chairmanship and the vice-chairmanship were running on a joint ticket.
It said that voters card requirement should be removed from the LASIEC guidelines in purchasing forms.
The council said that collection of forms should begin after the primary elections in various political parties and should extend to the final day of submission.
It said that the process of payment for the form should be reviewed and made less cumbersome.
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