Delta State Governor, Dr. Emmanuel Uduaghan, has expressed reservations about the insistence by the Independent National Electoral Commission to use card readers in the conduct of the forthcoming general elections.

The governor, who spoke at a reception he held on Wednesday in Asaba for the European Union Ambassador to Nigeria and the Economic Community of West African States, Mr. Michel Arrion, expressed the fear that should the card readers fail there will be confusion.

He said the situation would be worsened by a situation where many people might be unable to vote because of their inability to collect their permanent voter cards.

He said that he had nothing against the use of the card readers but that they must be well tested to ensure that nothing goes wrong on Election Day.

“Delta State is made up 40 per cent of what we call difficult-to-reach areas. We know that INEC is in the process of using card readers and PVCs. We are not against the card readers but we also do not want them to be used in such a way that our people will not be happy at the end of the day. We think that enough underground work has not been done yet on the use of the card readers,” he stated.

While observing that energy was the major challenge of Nigerians, Arrion said the EU was also interested in food security, nutrition, good governance and the rule of law.

He added that the EU was also committed to checking trafficking in human beings and small arms.

Uduaghan argued that the electorate has to be properly sensitized and mobilized to ensure that they are carried along and that there were no hitches with the elections.

The governor noted that though there has been noticeable improvement in the election process, the issue of permanent voter card has yet to be fully resolved.

He said that the postponement of the elections from February 14 saved Nigeria from an embarrassment and crisis as it was obvious that INEC had not carried out enough enlightenment campaign on the use of the card reader.