The Chairman of the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC), Attahiru Jega on Wednesday said that despite existing challenges, the commission will deliver on its promise of providing permanent voters’ cards with micro-chips for all registered voters by the end of 2013, in readiness for the general elections of 2015.
Mr Jega, who disclosed this at the INEC headquarters in Abuja while receiving the participants of the National Security Course at the Defence Intelligence School, said the major preoccupation of the commission is to continually raise its standards until it enjoys the total confidence of Nigerians on electoral processes.
“The minor challenges which are still associated with the register, we’ve been using every opportunity to improve the register,” the INEC Chairman said.
“Our hope is that by 2015, we will not only have a very credible register for the elections, which have been updated through the continuous voters’ registration process, we would also have been able to provide all Nigerians who have registered with a permanent voter’s card,” he added.
He said that the permanent voter’s card will have an electronic chip “which will enable us use card readers at polling units to ensure 100 percent authentication. This means only the legitimate owners of those cards are allowed to vote.”
Participants of the course led by the Wing Commander Idris Hassan are being trained on strategies to combat terrorism based on the Middle East experience and the African situation.
Wing.Cdr. Hassan, said the visit was to “avail the 30 participants with the understanding, working and the concepts of national security from the INEC perspectives.”
He said the school was responsible for the provision of strategic intelligence and specific training to members of the armed forces and other relevant agencies in the country.
This effort, he added, was being done in collaboration with France, Germany, America and Israel.
