BALLOT papers from Nigeria's impending presidential elections have been left unsecured and unprotected at the premises of the local printer in Essex in the UK where they were printed.

 Election ballot papers generally fall under the category of security printing alongside money, passports, chequebooks, birth certificates and other official documents. Such contracts are traditionally given out to security printers who provide a high degree of protection for such products between when they are produced and delivered.

 However, the Independent National Electoral Commission (Inec) handed the printing of the ballot papers to Panther Printing Services in Rainham in Essex, which is not security printer. Nigerian firm Cemoz International was the main contractor taken on by Inec to produce the ballot papers and it has outsourced the printing to Panther Printing.

 Apart from the fact that the materials were left unsecured, their production is also behind schedule as they were supposed to have arrived in Nigeria last week. However, it appears that following the postponement of the elections, Inec has relaxed the shipping date and the printer does not have to deliver them until later in the month.