*The National Identity Management Commission’s staff say they are on strike due to exposure of staff to COVID-19 risks, lack of personal protective equipment (PPEs), irregularities in promotion, and poor funding

Isola Moses | ConsumerConnect

Nigerians in thousands seeking to enrol for the mandatory National Identification Numbers (NINs) are stranded as staff of the National Identity Management Commission (NIMC) have locked them out of offices of the Commission following an industrial action.

Lucky Michael, President of the Association of Senior Civil Servants of Nigeria, and Odia Victor, Secretary of the Association, NIMC Branch, jointly signed a notice of strike.

Their communiqué stated: “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.”

According to a communiqué issued at the end of the congress meeting of the ACCSN, NIMC branch, the strike had become necessary due to the exposure of staff to COVID-19 risks, lack of personal protective equipment, irregularities in promotion and poor funding.

The concerned workers also requested the authority to them overtime aside from provision of adequate equipment to perform their responsisilities.

“Staff members were infected with COVID-19, and adequate measures have not been taken to curtail the spread.

“The meeting resolved that safety of staff should be prioritised. Furthermore the office environment should be fumigated immediately,” said the notice.

It further noted that “the congress agreed that the NIMC staff salary structure approved by the Federal Government vide Presidential assent be implemented in the personnel appropriation of the 2021 annual budget effective January 2021.

“That the lopsided and irregular promotion done in 2017 and 2020 be reviewed, regularised and gazetted in accordance with public service rules.”

ConsumerConnect reports since the Federal Government made the provision of NIN compulsory by subscribers to mobile telephone networks to keep enjoying them, scores of Nigerians have been thronging the offices of the NIMC and other enrolment centres for registration in the country.

Report says this development has piled much pressure on the Commission, even amid the rising cases of COVID-19 pandemic, as millions of Nigerians rush to beat the January 19, 2021, deadline for those with NIN and February 9 for those who are yet to enroll.