Key Takeaways
- The Nigeria Democratic Congress said it generated ₦8.529 billion from nomination forms, dues, levies and supporters’ contributions within its first seven months.
- NDC National Treasurer Peter Onigah reported that the party spent ₦2.402 billion on political activities, including primaries, publicity, staff salaries and other expenses.
- Onigah promised to provide a detailed breakdown of NDC’s financial transactions before its first accounting year ends and open its records to public scrutiny.
The Nigeria Democratic Congress (NDC) has disclosed that it generated ₦8.529 billion from the sale of nomination forms, party dues, levies and contributions from supporters within its first seven months.
The party also revealed that it spent ₦2.402 billion on political activities, including primaries, publicity, staff salaries and other expenses.
The NDC National Treasurer, Peter Onigah, disclosed the figures in Abuja on Monday while presenting the party’s financial statement at its third National Executive Committee (NEC) meeting, Naija News reports.
Onigah said the disclosure was part of the party’s commitment to transparency and accountability, adding that its financial records would be open to public scrutiny.
He promised that the party would provide a detailed breakdown of its financial transactions before the end of its first accounting year.
“We have been very prudent. Our shelf is made up of technocrats, people who are experienced and people who have different capacities,” Onigah said.
He explained that the party depended on contributions from its members and supporters because it did not yet have members in government.
“As a new party, we don’t have people in government yet. All of us are outside the government. So, we need to contribute together and ensure that our party will prevail and achieve the desired objectives,” he added.
The NDC National Chairman, Moses Cleopas, said the decision to make the party’s financial records public was a normal practice and not a response to what he described as frivolous allegations on social media.
Cleopas explained that political parties were required to submit their financial reports to the relevant government institutions at the end of each year.
He said the NDC decided to inform its members about its finances before completing its first year because of the need to build trust and ensure accountability.
“We are not up to one year. That will be after our presidential elections. But just because of what we are coming out from, we, the managers of the party, feel that in a network like this, even as we are not going into details, people must know what we are and how we are functioning and how we are managing,” he said.
“It is therefore the right and opportunity of every individual member to hear and to know what we are doing with our common resources.”
