The Federal Executive Council (FEC) yesterday approved N459 million for the procurement of 17,000 smart card readers to verify the identity and authenticity of voters in future elections.
Minister of Information, Mr. Labaran Maku, told journalists after the weekly FEC meeting in Abuja that the approval followed a memorandum brought to the Council by the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) through the office of the Secretary to the Government of the Federation.
Maku said in order to show the government's commitment to free, fair and credible elections, the Council approved the procurement of the smart card readers in favour of Zinox Technologies Limited for N459 million with a completion period of six months.
According to him, the 17,000 smart card reader would be the first batch, saying that there would be other two other installments before meeting the required number needed.
The minister said the smart card readers would be deployed to voting centres to verify the identity of registered voters in future election.
Maku said: "The proposal is to ensure that all those who have fake identity cards are identified in all future elections through a special provision that will enable the utilisation in every polling centre of smart card readers.
"So when you bring your own voters' card and there are doubts, it will be passed through the Smart Card Reader to identify the authenticity of the card and whether really the card belong to you and if it is authentic since most voters' cards now have bio-metrics, it will be easy for the Smart Card Reader to verify the identity of those who come out to vote.
"This will completely stop incidence of double voting which often occasionally occur during elections and to ensure that all those who vote are citizens that have been duly registered in the specific constituency that the election might be holding."
National Mirror