The Abia State government has denied reports that it is planning a biometric verification exercise for traditional rulers in the state.
POLITICS NIGERIA reports that the government said that the reports were false and that it was instead carrying out a manual enumeration of all traditional rulers in the state.
The manual enumeration is being conducted by the Ministry of Local Government and Chieftaincy Affairs in order to ascertain the exact number of traditional rulers and their autonomous communities, the statement revealed.
The government said that the manual enumeration does not involve any form of biometric data collection and that it does not require traditional rulers to gather anywhere.
The government said that the manual enumeration is a hitch-free exercise that has already excited the affected traditional rulers.
The government said that it is understandable why the opposition is trying to distort the facts of this exercise but that it will continue to intentionally take actions and decisions that would have lasting positive effects on the state and its people.
The government’s statement reads:
“Kindly disregard the FAKE news being peddled by some opposition elements that Abia Traditional Rulers are to be subjected to Biometric Verification Exercise.
“In a bid to ascertain the exact number of Traditional Rulers and their Autonomous communities which would guide government in its welfare packages for the Traditional Institution, the Alex Otti led-government through the Ministry of Local Government and Chiectaincy Affairs decided to carry out a MANUAL ENUMERATION of all Traditional Rulers.
“This hitch-free exercise which has already excited the affected Traditional Rulers does not involve any form of Biometric and does not require them to gather anywhere, rather each is required to fill a form that would contain his Biodata and other important information.
“It’s understandable why the opposition is trying to distort the facts of this exercise; they were not used to being thorough to the point of appreciating the importance of data, neither did they pay attention to the welfare of Traditional Rulers and their communities when they were in power.
“The Alex Otti led-government would continue to be intentional in taking actions and decisions that would have lasting positive effect on the state and its people”.
