We have capacity to print electoral materials, Mint company tells INEC

The Nigerian Security, Printing and Minting, (NSPM) Plc, has appealed to the Chairman of the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC), Mamood Yakub, to award the contract of producing the election materials for the 2019 general elections to the mint company.

“We are saying we have the capacity to compete with others, if INEC will gives us the opportunity, we have the capacity to do 100 percent of not only the ballot paper, all the electoral material in 2019, said Managing Director and Chief Executive of NSPM, Abbas Umar Masanawa.

“We are pleading with INEC, we are trying to see how they can be able to give us, we have been talking with them. We say instead of INEC to take it somewhere else outside the country, it is something that we can be able to do.

“We have the capacity to print in Nigeria 100 percent of all the electoral requirements come 2019 and we believe INEC will give us the opportunity to prove that we can be able to do it.”

It assured that the Minting company has the capacity to handle all election materials for the 2019 elections.

Masanawa who said already NSPM management has met with the INEC Chairman to discuss the matter, expressed optimism that  the minting company would considered for the job

This is coming on the heels of the outcry against printing of the nation’s passports in Malaysia instead of awarding the contract to NSPM, to patronize indigenous companies.

Critics say, the passport being a sensitive and important document should not be taken outside the country, adding that if the nation’s currency could be handled locally, it was pointless printing outside.

“Mint is a goldmine and what we have achieved is not to be compared with what we are capable of achieving, we believe we will be able to do better over time,” he said.