By Bukola Hameed
The Oyo State Executive Council has approved the sum of N279.2 million for the production of ballot papers to be used for forthcoming local government election.
The Oyo State Commissioner for Information, Culture and Tourism, Dr.Wasiu Olatunbosun, who disclosed this while briefing journalists on the outcome of the 9th executive council meeting of year 2021, also stated that the production is directly awarded to the Nigerian Security Printing and Minting Company, NSPMC.
He said the government did this to show its seriousness and commitment towards conducting free and fair local government election.
He said: “The Council approved the production of ballot papers to be used for the forthcoming local government election, which is scheduled to hold on May 15, 2021. And the production is directly awarded to Nigerian Security Printing and Minting Company.
“We did this to show how serious and transparent we are and how prepared this administration is towards the forthcoming election. We are giving the contract for the production out to a reputable printing company known for printing of security materials.
“In the past elections in the state, they made use of the government printing press, but, this time around, we want a third party to handle this sensitive material so that nobody will have access to the ballot papers.”