As the strike action embarked upon by workers of National Identity Management Commission (NIMC) enters Day 2, enrollees of National Identification Number (NIN) are in for more anguish and frustration.
The workers allegedly capitalizing on the huge crowds wanting NIN began the nationwide strike on Thursday to press home their demands.
Straightnews learned that the possibility of most of the enrollees meeting the February 9 NIN to SIM registration and verification deadline may hit the rocks.
The workers said they propped up the action based on their exposure to COVID-19 risks, lack of personal protective equipment, irregularities in promotion and poor or lack of funding, among other grievances.
Consequently, thousands of applicants were locked outside NIMC premises in Lagos, Abuja, Imo, Abia, and other parts of the country.
The strike notice, which was signed by the President of the Association of Senior Civil Servants of Nigeria (ASCSN), NIMC branch, Lucky Michael, and its Secretary, Odia Victor, stated that the action would begin Thursday, at NIMC’s offices nationwide.
The directive read in part: “Consequent upon the just concluded congress of the above mentioned association that took place on January 6, 2020, the unit executive directs all members of grade level 12 and below in the head office and state offices to report to their respective duty posts tomorrow January 7, 2020 and do nothing.
“All members at the local government offices and special centres are advised to stay away from their various centres as task force and implementation committees would be on parade to ensure total compliance to the directive.”
The Guardian reported that the implication of this is that apart from compounding the woes of Nigerians, who have been bombarding the 1000 NIMC offices across the country on daily basis to enroll for the National Identification Number (NIN) to avoid being disconnected from telephone networks, the opportunity to provide Nigeria with a database of its population has been slowed down.
The strike has left anguish and frustration on the faces of Nigerians nationwide, as they lament the stalling of their efforts to procure the now all-important NIN, Straightnews has learned.
From Uyo, Akwa Ibom capital, most enrollees who did not know about the strike were seen standing in the sun to be registered.
At Federal Secretariat, Uyo, the enrollees in hundreds were seen roaming the secretariat to be registered but the staffers of NIMC were not on sight.
Confirming this in an interview with Planet Radio 101.1 FM, Uyo, Fred Iwok, head of NIMC in the state said the staffers are embarking on strike to press home for improvement of poor welfare, poor remuneration, poor funding and reinstatement of relieved staffers of Kaduna office.
From Lagos, Bayelsa, Rivers, Taraba, to Kaduna, the enrollees are facing anguish and frustration as all NIMC offices are shut.
Recall that the Nigerian Communications Commission had last month asked all telecoms firms to disconnect SIM cards of persons who had not integrated their National Identity Numbers with their phone lines by the end of January.
More than 100 million Nigerians are yet to do so, making huge crowds to daily gather at various offices of NIMC in breach of the COVID-19 protocol.
