The Federal Executive Council on Wednesday approved N2.6 billion for the production of 40 million voter cards by the Independent National Electoral Commission at a unit price of N65.
So also did the Council reveal that Nigeria is the third fastest growing economy in the world.
The Minister of Information, Labaran Maku, and the Minister of State, Finance, Dr. Yerima Ngama, who spoke with newsmen after the meeting presided over by President Goodluck Jonathan, said the contract was awarded to Messrs ACT Technologies Limited, with a delivery period of seven months.
Maku said that the approval was given based on Section 16 of the 2010 Electoral Act, as amended, that makes it mandatory for INEC to print and issue voter cards to all registered voters in the country.
Security features of the permanent cards, according to Maku, include hologram, microtext, guilloche, barcode, fingerprints, contactless/embedded chip with printed voter details and photograph that would last for at least 10 years if well protected.
Council also said it was not happy with the flouting of the decision taken to have Ministries, Departments and Agencies procure locally produced goods.
Maku said: “You will recollect that last year, the President directed that all procurement must first focus on made in Nigeria goods, that all items that are produced locally must first be considered in the public procurement exercise at least at the federal level. This is to encourage local producers and to also encourage the creation of jobs within the economy for the unemployed and school leavers.
“The President noted in council today (Wednesday) that in spite of this directive, the MDAs have yet to fully implement it. So he asked all MDAs as we prepare for the 2012 budget year to list out in our procurement plans those things that should be procured locally. This is to ensure that we encourage local producers and also encourage domestic economic growth.”
Ngama said on the states of Nigeria’s economy: “Today in Council, I presented a report on the presentation made at the 37th Annual General Meeting of the Islamic Development Bank, IDB.
“The bank has 56 member countries and at the annual general meeting, each country is expected to present a report on the economic development in the country.
“The aim is to educate ourselves about what is happening in our countries.
“In the case of Nigeria, our report was actually the best.
“For the year, for the quarter, which ended on 31st December, 2011, only about 46 countries have actually submitted their data and Nigeria was third in terms of GDP growth.
“We recorded a GDP growth of 7.68 per cent in real terms and this is largely due to growth in the non-oil sector.
“The previous year, 2010, the GDP growth was 8.4 per cent but last year, it dropped to 7.68 per cent because we had a negative growth in the oil sector.
“So, it means that the non-oil sector is actually resilient and strong enough to carry the economy forward with or without the oil sector.
“This actually placed us as the third fastest growing economy in the world, the first being Mongolia with 14. 9 per cent real growth rate, then China with 8.4 per cent real GDP growth rate, followed by Nigeria with 7.68 per cent.
“But the more important story out of it is that as a nation, we have our Vision 202020, we have the objective of having one of the world strongest economies by year 2020.
“All the other countries, apart from China, that are ahead of Nigeria, are growing at a slower rate than Nigeria.
“When those ahead of you are growing slower, it means that in the next eight years, we will achieve our objective of being one of the strongest economies in the world.
“As at last December, our total GDP was more that N10 trillion and that is a growth that is unprecedented despite our challenges.”