Large Crowd Gathers At NIMC Office For NIN Registration Amid COVID-19 Second Wave

Nigerians have taken to their social media pages to condemn the large crowd that gathered at the offices of the National Identity Management Commission (NIMC) on Monday in a bid to register and obtain the National Identity Number (NIN).

KanyiDaily recalls that the Nigerian Communications Commission (NCC) had threatened that SIM cards not linked to NIN by 30 December, 2020, would be blocked, and that telecom service providers that failed to block phone numbers without NIN would have their operating licences withdrawn.

It was learnt that currently, only about 41.5 million Nigerians out of an estimated 198 million active phone subscribers have NIN.

ALSO READ: How To Check National Identification Number (NIN) From Your Phone

When newsmen visited some NIMC centres across the states, it observed the presence of a large crowd and non-compliance with COVID-19 guidelines, especially social distancing.

Most of the people, who gathered at the NIMC office in Alausa, were either not wearing face masks or not observing physical distancing, thereby flouting the protocol put in place by the government in a bid to tackle the spread of COVID-19 which has been on the increase in the last one week.

Several Nigerians have been criticising the Federal Government on social media over the gathering of large crowds in NIMC’s offices. Some of them also accused NIMC officials of demanding bribe from them.

Meanwhile, SERAP has asked President Muhammadu Buhari to stop the ‘forced’ registration of NIN, and withdraw the threat to block SIM cards.