The ongoing National Identity Number (NIN) registration has been temporarily halted as workers of the National Identity Management Commission (NIMC) have begun an industrial action.
This was disclosed in a communique issued by the workers, under the aegis of the Association of Senior Civil Servants of Nigeria (ASCSN), after their congress on Wednesday.
According to the communique signed by Micheal Asekokhai of the ASCSN NIMC unit and Victor Odia, the union’s secretary, the workers proceeded on strike over poor welfare package, lack of tools and risk of exposure to the novel coronavirus (COVID-19).
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 and adequate provision of work tools for civic data enrollment.
Also on their list of demands are the provision of adequate monthly operational stipends, work tools necessary for the process of enrolment of civic data: these tools are not limited to; power and connectivity (airtime and data connectivity), enrolment systems and peripherals, stationeries and consumables (NIN slips, enrolment forms, A4 paper).
The communique read: “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,” read.
“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.”
The Nigerian Communications Commission (NCC) had asked all telcos to disconnect the SIM cards of persons who have not integrated their national identity numbers (NIN) with their phone lines by the end of January.
This made applicants troop out en masse NIMC offices across the country in large numbers.
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