THE Federal Government, on Wednesday, hinted
that the national identity card would replace voter
cards in future elections in the country just as it
approved the printing of 33.5 million new
permanent voter cards by the Independent National
Electoral Commission (INEC).
Minister of Information, Mr Labaran Maku, who
revealed this while briefing State House
correspondents after the weekly meeting of the
Federal Executive Council (FEC), said the new voter
cards would be printed at the cost of N2.17 billion.
He noted that the new voter cards would contain
unique biometric features to identify the holders and
come with a lifespan of 10 years, adding that during
the 10 years lifespan, the national identity card
would replace it as the voter card.
Maku said: “Following the successful conduct of the
nationwide voters’ registration in 2011, the
commission proposed to print 73,500,000 permanent
voters’ cards to replace the temporary voter cards
issued during the voter registration.
“The commission printed 40,000,000 permanent
cards in 2011 for the first phase of the project which
is in progress. There is the need to print and issue
the remaining 35.000,000 permanent voter cards.
“After deliberations, Council approved the contract
for the second phase of the printing of permanent
voter cards at the rate of N65 per card in the sum of
N2,117,500,000 with a completion period of six
months,” he said.
The minister explained that based on INEC’s
estimate, the permanent voter cards would be used
for elections in 2015 and 2019 after which the
national identity cards would be the instrument for
use in elections in the country.
FEC also approved the institutionalisation of six-level
National Vocational Qualification Framework
(NVQF) and the placement of National Vocational
Qualifications in the Scheme of Service.
Minister of Education, Professor Ruqayyatu Rufa’i,
who was also at the briefing, explained that the
decision was informed by the need to de-emphasise
over-reliance on paper qualification and integrate
skilled professionals into the scheme of service.
In doing this, the council reasoned that as Nigeria
aspired to become a major player in the world
economy, the place of skilled and competent
workforce could not be underplayed.

Source: tribune.com.ng/news2013/index.php/en/component/k2/item/9338-fg-approves-n3-3bn-for-permanent-voter-cards-national-id-card-to-replace-voter-cards