Some residents of Delta State violated COVID-19 protocols when they laid siege on the National Identity Management Commission (NIMC) centre in the bid to register for the National Identification Number (NIN) on Monday.
The rush to register for the NIN is furtherance to the directive by the Federal Government asking Nigerians to link their NIN with their Subscriber Identification Modules (SIMs) or risk being disconnected.
Residents of Delta who showed at the registration centre located at Maple Swamp, GRA, Warri in Warri South Local Government Area on Monday were asked to part with some money before they could be enrolled.
This is coming in spite of warnings from the NIMC that the exercise is free-of-charge across the country.
While officials of the commission now engage in sharp practices as a result of the rush against the deadline, it was gathered that residents usually besiege the centre as early as 4:00 am so that they could be attended to.
When our correspondent arrived at the venue on Monday, scores of individuals were seen either waiting outside or being attended to in the inner offices.
One of the residents, Ijeoma told Tribune Online that: “I have been here since 4:00 am. I have submitted my voter’s card, I’m just waiting for them to collect my data so that I will come back in two weeks time to get the original NIN copy,” she noted.
Ijeoma, however, alleged that the quicker way of obtaining the number was through what she described as “express of N5,000.”
She said further that: “They make haste in attending to people that go to them through express, that is people that pay N5000 cash.
“So, if you have N5,000 to pay, you don’t have a problem,” the undergraduate of a private university disclosed.
NIMC officials, however, declined comments when approached on the allegations.
Tribune Online reports that though a public notice was conspicuously visible on the wall at the entrance of the centre warning that those without face masks will not be allowed entry, those in the crowd outside the office were seen without their face masks. They also did not maintain social distancing.
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