Following request by the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC), the Federal Executive Council (FEC) on Wednesday approved the procurement of 17,000 smart card readers, in the sum of N459 million.
According to the Minister of Information, Labaran Maku, who briefed State House correspondents after the weekly FEC meeting presided over by President Goodluck Jonathan, the smart card readers will be used to authenticate voter’s card in all future elections starting with the 2015.
Maku, said the first batch of 17, 000 is expected to be delivered within six months while the remaining two batches will follow at a later date. He explained further that the card readers are meant to stop incident of double voting and to detect fake voter’s cards
“In its desire to ensure free, fair and credible elections, the INEC is to procure, customise and configure 17,000 smart card readers that will be deployed during elections for voters authentication.
“The SCR will be used to verify the rightful owner of the voter’s card presented for identification during elections.
“In order to show the commitment of this our administration to free, fair, and credible elections in the country, Council approved the procurement of 17,000 smart card readers in favour of Zinox Technologies Ltd at the rate of N27,000 in the sum of N459 million with a completion period of six months”, Information Minister said.
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