The house of representatives has approved an increase in the campaign spending limits for candidates contesting elections in Nigeria.
Following the clause-by-clause review of the report requesting a change to the Electoral Act 2022, the legislators increased the spending cap during Thursday’s session.
Legislators raised the cap for presidential candidates from N5 billion in the current Act to N10 billion under the approved modifications.
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The cap on campaign expenditures for senate candidates was increased from N100 million to N500 million, while the cap for gubernatorial candidates was increased from N1 billion to N3 billion.
Additionally, the expenditure cap for candidates running for the House of Representatives was raised from N70 million to N250 million.
The cap was raised from N30 million to N100 million for elections to the state house of assembly.
Candidates running for chairperson posts at the local government level would now be permitted to spend up to N100 million, as opposed to the previous N30 million.
Similarly, candidates running for council had their campaign spending cap doubled from N5 million to N10 million.
Apart from modifying spending caps, the lawmakers also authorised boosting the maximum amount that a person or organisation may give to a candidate from N50 million to N500 million.
The amendments are part of ongoing legislative efforts to review the electoral law ahead of the 2027 elections.
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This comes following, lawmakers approval of a proposal mandating the real-time transmission of election results on Wednesday.
The amendment will come into effect once it is concurred to by the senate and assented to by the president.
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