NIMC registration amid COVID-19 irresponsible, says Afenifere

Afenifere has described the ongoing registration of Sim cards in the midst of the strong second wave of COVID-19 as the most irresponsible act of governance on display in the history of this unfortunate country.

It says it shows total disregard for the lives of citizens to expose them to the vagaries of coronavirus without any form of protection under these terrible conditions.

Officials of the National Identity Management Commission who are currently on strike have also complained that they have not been provided and personal protective equipment and their allowances are not being paid.
It is so barbaric and archaic that Nigerians are being exposed to these dangers which shows lack of critical thinking in leadership when bodies like Google etc can manage whatever information on people’s phones without having any contact with the owners.

The group challenges the government to respond to the strong allegation by the President of the Association of the Senior Civil Servants of Nigeria, NIMC unit, Asekokhai Lucky, in an interview with a national newspaper that already the virus had been detected in three officials of the agency at its headquarters with the government doing a cover-up.

He said the workers were annoyed because the management of the commission was aware of the development but kept it from workers, who could have taken necessary precautions to protect themselves.

THE Federal Government had, on December 14, 2020, ordered telecommunications firms to disconnect telephones lines of subscribers who failed to link their National Identity Numbers to their subscriber identification modules.

Nigerians, who do not have the NIN have been trooping to the NIMC offices, disregarding COVID-19 protocols such as wearing of face masks and social distancing.

Lucky stated that “Three workers of the NIMC have contracted COVID-19 because in our recent meeting a member of staff actually testified to it.

“The minute of that meeting captured it, as three persons are down with COVID-19. Some of us actually thought those guys were on leave. It was cleared yesterday (Wednesday) that they were treating themselves in isolation centres.”

The union accused the management of keeping silent about the development despite knowing what this could mean to workers of the commission.

Lucky said, “Our annoyance is that the management refused to say it out, knowing that it would have helped us to take all necessary precautions.”

The Chairman of the ASCSN, NIMC Unit, Abakaliki, Edene Chukwudi, also told a newspaper correspondent that three workers of the commission had been infected with COVID-19.

He said, “We are on strike because three of our staff contracted coronavirus and this has also spread to their children. This is because of the nature of work we do here, which brings us in contact with people every time. The Federal Government has not given us any personal protective equipment.”

We do not see any difference between those asking our workers and the public to go through these dangers at this time as being different from Boko Haram who are bombing our innocent people.

We, therefore, demand the immediate suspension of the exercise until all the issues are addressed.

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