Activities at the headquarters of National Identity Management Commission, NIMC in Abuja where some Nigerians were undergoing their National Identification Number (NIN) suffered setback yesterday as scores of applicants were left unattended at the Commission’s office following a strike action embarked upon by workers of the Commission.
Many of the applicants who arrived as early as 8 am were locked outside the Commission’s office, while officials discussed the strike in hush voices.
It was gathered that the president of the Association of Senior Civil Servants of Nigeria (ASCSN), NIMC branch, Lucky Michael, and the secretary, Odia Victor, jointly signed the strike notice.
The notice reads in part, “Consequent upon the just concluded congress of the above-mentioned association that took place on January 6, 2021, 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, 2021, and do nothing.
“All members at the local government offices and special centres are advised to stay away from their various centres as a task force and implementation committees would be on parade to ensure total compliance with the directive.”
A communiqué issued at the end of the congress meeting of the ASCSN, NIMC branch however noted that the strike had become imperative considering the risks involved in the on-going registration due to the exposure of staff to risks associated with COVID-19.
The union argued that lack of personal protective equipment, irregularities in the promotion and poor funding of NIMC were part of the issues leading to the strike.
The congress of the union also insisted that adequate measures should be taken to curtail the spread of COVID-19, while maintaining that their doors were opened for dialogue.
The congress further resolved that the safety of staff should be prioritised, and their offices nationwide should be fumigated immediately due to the surge in the numbers of applicants.
Meanwhile, the Nigerian Communications Commission (NCC), has clarified the unfounded fears of mass disconnection of telephone subscribers.
The Commission was reacting to publications in some sections of the media alleging that telecom network operators have commenced mass disconnection of telecom subscribers who have yet to integrate their National Identification Number (NIN) to the SIM card registration.
A statement signed by the director, Public Affairs at NCC, Dr. Ikechukwu Adinde, explained that most of these publications were based on the erroneous assumption that for every network or SIM connection, there is one unique human subscriber.
He clarified that with the advent of social media and App-driven digital environment, network subscription went beyond human subscribers to include machines like PoS, Routers, Wi-Fi devices, electricity meters, CCTV, tracking devices etc.
The Statement reads, “The attention of the Nigerian Communications Commission (NCC) has been drawn to numerous publications in both print and electronic media regarding the unfounded fears of mass disconnection of telephone subscribers as a result of the ongoing linkage of SIM Registration Records with the National Identity Number (NIN).
“It is therefore necessary for the Commission to issue this clarification in order to allay the fears of subscribers and the general public.”
