FEC APPROVES 2 POINT 6 BILLION NAIRA CONTRACT FOR PERMANENT VOTERS CARDS; NIGERIA NOW 3RD FASTEST GROWING ECONOMY IN THE WORLD

In a bid to ensure greater transparency in future elections, the Federal Executive Council Wednesday approved the printing of 40 million permanent voters cards at a cost of 2.6 billion naira

Briefing newsmen at State House Abuja, at the end of this week's meeting Information Minister Labaran Maku the contract was the first phase of an exercise to replace the temporary voters cards issued for last General Elections in 2011

The first phase, according to the Information Minister, is supposed to cover 40 million out of the 73.5 voters registered during the 2011 nationwide voters register 

Mr Maku further explained that the permanent voters cards were expected to contain security features and were to last ten years

Council also considered the indexes from  Nigeria's participation in the just concluded conference  of the Islamic Development BAnk in Sudan which placed Nigeria as the third fastest growing economy in the world, behind Mongolia and China, with a growth rate of seven point six eight percent

Minister of State for Finance, Yerima Ngama explained that by virtue of its consistent economic growth, Nigeria had exited the group of low income countries and was now a low middle income country

But while this had reflected in an increase in GDP to the tune of ten trillion naira in 2011 and healthy growth of some industries, the Minister of State for Finance admitted that there was uneven development between states

And he was quick to clarify that this  large disparity between the prosperous and those living in poverty must be tackled by government  to ensure an all inclusive growth that carried along all Nigerians

State House Correspondent KEHINDE AMODU reports that  the executive arm of government again promised that President Goodluck Jonathan would any day now sign the 2012 into law