The Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) has said it would track finances of candidates and political parties for the 2019 general elections.

National Commissioner In-Charge of Election and Party Monitoring Committee at the INEC headquarters, Alhaji Baba Shettima Arfo, disclosed this on Wednesday in Gombe at the commencement of a two-day workshop for its staffs in the North-east geo-political zone on tracking and reporting campaign finance.

Represented by Gombe state Resident Electoral Commissioner, Alhaji Umar Ibrahim, Arfo said the workshop was organised by the commission to address challenges in tracking and reporting campaign finances.

He said participants drawn from six states of the zone and staffs from the CBN, EFCC and NBC, would be exposed on how to track and report candidates and parties finances in 2019 elections.

He added that the workshop is in line with the commission’s commitment to effectively track and report parties’ and candidates’ campaign and finances, which he said is critical to the survival and consolidation of democracy.

He said apart from improving the participants’ knowledge with regards to political parties’ campaign finances, “the workshop will also improve their knowledge on provision of Electoral Act 2010 (as amended) relating to campaign finance and the procedure for the enforcement of rules on tracking campaign finances, income, expenses and uniform format for sending the report.”

Text (excluding headline) culled from Dailytrust