Despite COVID-19 increase, applicants refuse to wear face mask at NIMC office in Edo

In clear violation of the COVID-19 rule which makes the wearing of face masks compulsory in government offices, scores of people without face masks visited the National Identity Management Commission (NIMC) office at Oredo Local Government Area of Edo State.

Applicants who milled around the office, threw social distancing to the wind as they pushed and shoved themselves in a desperate effort at getting the attention of officials of NIMC at the council headquarters in Benin.

The sudden upsurge in the number of applications may not be unconnected with the decision by the NIMC mandating phone users from registering their mobile phone numbers with the National Identification Number (NIN).

Fuming, an official of NIMC said that he tried in vain to keep the horde of applicants at bay, noting that he appealed to them to wear face masks but his persistent appeals fell on deaf ears.

The official who refused to disclose his identity charged: “I told the applicants to wear face masks but they just will not listen. When they came this morning, I lectured them on the need to wear face masks but they refused to obey.”

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Asked why he attended to them since they refused to put on a face mask, he said that it was not up to him to enforce the rule but to officials of the council who are the owners of the complex situated in front of Oba of Benin Palace.

The Leader of Oredo Local Government Legislative House, Mr Jeffrey Ewansiha, explained that the council has over the advised visitors to the council secretariat on the health implications of not wearing face masks.

Ewansiha said: “Human beings are very difficult to control. We are trying our best to ensure that visitors to the council secretariat wear face masks. We’ll find a way to get around it. With the current upsurge in cases of COVID-19, we’ll do something about it.”

NIGERIAN TRIBUNE

Despite COVID-19 increase, applicants refuse to wear face mask at NIMC office in Edo