The Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) has expressed confidence in the performance of the Smart Card Readers to be used at the forthcoming general elections.

Mr Festus Okoye, INEC National Commissioner and Chairman, Information and Voter Education Committee, expressed the confidence in an interview with the News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) on Sunday in Abuja.

Okoye confirmed that the card readers had been enhanced for better performance.

He added that the commission did not expect the card readers to malfunction.

“The batteries of the enhanced card readers can last longer now. The window of the smart card reader is wider and can read fingerprints better now.

“We have upgraded the smart card readers and the ones to be used for the election are smart card readers that can perform very well.

So, we do not envisage the issue of malfunction. It will be reduced to the barest minimum.

“The issue of card readers unable to read peoples biometrics will be reduced to the barest minimum,” Okoye said.

The national commissioner said that the commission had required qualities as well as quantity to conduct the nationwide elections.

“What we did was to make up for short falls. Additional cards readers that we wanted have already arrived the country and have been distributed to all the states.

“So we don’t have challenge to the quality of smart card readers that would be used for these elections,” he said.