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Why NIN registration may be suspended in Nigeria ─Minister

Dr. Olorunnimbe Mamora, Honourable Minister of State for Health

*The National Identity Management Commission needs to go back to the drawing board and re-order the enrolment process to avoid large crowds at registration centres nationwide ─ Dr. Olorunnimbe Mamora, Honourable Minister of State for Health

Alexander Davis | ConsumerConnect

In view of the surging crowds at offices of the National Identity Management Commission (NIMC) across the country, seeking to register for their mandatory National Identification Numbers (NINs), Dr. Olorunnimbe Mamora, Honourable Minister of State for Health, has disclosed that the ongoing National Identification Number enrolment may be suspended over the rising second wave of COVID-19 in the country.

The Minister, while speaking on a programme on Channels TV in the morning Monday, January 11, 2021, urged the National Identity Management Commission (NIMC) to go back to the drawing board and re-order the enrolment process to avoid large crowds at its registration centres nationwide.

Mamora stated that government has a duty to ensure Nigerians are protected at all times.

He said: “I don’t feel good looking at the picture where people are gathered in (their) multitude; it’s like a super-spreader event which we don’t like.

“But I’m also aware that the relevant ministry which is the communications and digital economy is looking at this.

“My understanding is that the whole process may be suspended so as to reorder the whole process in terms of management of the crowd because it was never intended that it would become a rowdy process like that.”

According to him, “we have a duty as government to ensure that people are protected; we also have a duty to ensure people comply within the limit of what is good for the society at large.”

It is recalled that NIMC staff had embarked on strike Thursday last week over exposure to COVID-19 risks, lack of Personal Protective Equipment (PPEs), and poor funding. The workers, however, called off the industrial action some 24 hours later.

Earlier, the Nigerian Communications Commission (NCC), acting on the directive of the Federal Government had ordered telecommunications companies in the country to deactivate telephone lines of subscribers who failed to link their phones to their National Identity Numbers.

The government as well noted that telecom subscribers with NINs have January 19 as deadline to link their NIN with their SIM cards, whereas subscribers without NINs have until February 9 to do the registration.

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