The scramble by Nigerians across the country to register for National Identity Numbers (NIN) in order not to have their SIM cards disconnected by service providers has suffered a setback as staff of the National Identity Management Commission (NIMC) have embarked on a strike.
NIMC unit of the Association of Senior Civil Servants of Nigeria (ASCSN), in a communique released at the end of a congress and signed by Michael Asekokhai and Victor Odia, said the action was in protest of poor welfare package, inadequate work tools and risk of exposure to coronavirus.
They also demanded a review of the “lopsided and irregular” promotion done in 2017 and 2020; implementation of the approved salary structure and its appropriation in the 2021 annual budget; adequate provision of work tools for civic data enrolment; provision of adequate monthly operational stipends, power and connectivity (airtime and data connectivity), enrolment systems and peripherals, stationeries and consumables (NIN slips, enrolment forms, A4 paper).
According to the communique: “The meeting was convened to discuss the state of the exposure of staff members to COVID-19, and the salary structure and its representation in the annual appropriation, and the irregularities in the conduct of promotions, and the personal protection and safety in light of the covid-19 pandemic.
“It was agreed that all enrolment activities should be suspended with immediate effect pending when the aforementioned demands are met,” the union said.
“Consequent upon the just concluded congress of the above-mentioned association that took place on January 6, 2020, 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, 2020, and do nothing.
“All members at the local government offices and special centres are advised to stay away from their various centres as task force and implementation committees would be on parade to ensure total compliance with the directive.”
365Daily recalls that the Nigerian Communications Commission (NCC) had directed all telcos to disconnect SIM cards of people who fail to link their national identity numbers (NIN) with their phone lines by the 30th of January.