Chairman of INEC, Prof. Attahiru Jega, said on Thursday that the commission had received 43 million permanent voters’ registration cards out of the required 73.5 million.
He said in Abuja that the commission was waiting to ensure that substantial cards were delivered before the beginning of distribution.
In 2012, the Federal Executive Council approved N2.6 billion, being the first phase for printing of 40 million out of the 75 million cards needed in the country for general elections.
Jega said the commission would begin the issuance of the 10-year permanent cards to registered voters before December.
“You know Nigerians, when INEC distributes cards to some states and others are not given, there will be political interpretations to it; we are putting mechanisms in place to ensure effective distribution.
He said INEC has learnt from its past mistakes.
“We don’t want a situation where the cards produced are dumped somewhere else without getting to every eligible voter.
“This time around, INEC will distribute the cards at the same time nationwide to guard against any complaint.
“We will go back to the polling units to ensure that all registered voters in each of the polling units collect their cards there.
“INEC is very meticulous about the distribution, but we will commence the distribution. As at today, there are 73.5 million temporary voters’ cards awaiting replacement,’’ Jega said.
According to him, the 2015 general elections will be much better than the previous exercises due to the lessons the INEC has learnt from the previous ones as an unbiased umpire.
“I want to use this opportunity to assure you that INEC will continuously improve on the transparency and credibility of the electoral process.
“I am assuring Nigerians that 2015 elections will be remarkably much better, ’’ the chairman said.
He said one of the security measures put in place was the production of the new cards that contained security features – embedded chips with printed voters’ details, photograph barcode, micro-text, hologram and fingerprints.
“The cards will be electronic in nature and will be used for identification, authentication, and for voting to prevent multiple voting and fraud.” Jega said.