The Federal Executive Council (FEC), on Wednesday, approved N2.6billion for the printing of 40 million permanent voters card by the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC).
While briefing journalists after the weekly FEC meeting which was chaired by President Goodluck Jonathan, Information Minister, Labaran Maku, said the issuance of the permanent voters card was in line with the 2010 Electoral Act.He also explained that the approval was only for the first phase, as INEC is expected to produce more cards next year to meet the required number of voters in the country.
The permanent cards, which will replace the temporary voters cards issued by the Commission for the 2011 general elections, will carry microchips containing voters' biodata, and will be valid for a minimum of 10 years.
The contract to print the new cards was awarded to ACT Technologies Limited and is expected to be delivered within seven months.
The new cards are expected to prevent multiple voting and thus strengthen the government’s efforts to clean up the nation's electoral process by achieving more credible and transparent polls.
“Next year, INEC is expected to bring a proposal for the production of another batch of voters card to Council for approval. The electoral process is one of the key programmes of this administration. We saw from the last election that our electoral process is getting cleaner by the day,” Maku said.
“Post election cases were down by more than two-thirds, so the electoral process will continue to receive the attention of this administration. We urge INEC to ensure that the cards are printed as soon as possible and are distributed to voters so that they can be ready for other elections between now and 2015.”
While briefing journalists after the weekly FEC meeting which was chaired by President Goodluck Jonathan, Information Minister, Labaran Maku, said the issuance of the permanent voters card was in line with the 2010 Electoral Act.He also explained that the approval was only for the first phase, as INEC is expected to produce more cards next year to meet the required number of voters in the country.
The permanent cards, which will replace the temporary voters cards issued by the Commission for the 2011 general elections, will carry microchips containing voters' biodata, and will be valid for a minimum of 10 years.
The contract to print the new cards was awarded to ACT Technologies Limited and is expected to be delivered within seven months.
The new cards are expected to prevent multiple voting and thus strengthen the government’s efforts to clean up the nation's electoral process by achieving more credible and transparent polls.
“Next year, INEC is expected to bring a proposal for the production of another batch of voters card to Council for approval. The electoral process is one of the key programmes of this administration. We saw from the last election that our electoral process is getting cleaner by the day,” Maku said.
“Post election cases were down by more than two-thirds, so the electoral process will continue to receive the attention of this administration. We urge INEC to ensure that the cards are printed as soon as possible and are distributed to voters so that they can be ready for other elections between now and 2015.”
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