FG suspends Lagos NIN registration over crowd

The Federal Government may have suspended the National Identity Number registration process in Lagos office of the National Identity Management Commission.

This followed the motley crowd that thronged the office of the NIMC on Monday morning, which prompted the management to shut down the office.

A source at the headquarters of the commission said the decision to put the process on hold in Lagos was because of the embarrassing crowd that came for the NIN enrolment on the first day.

The source added that the fear of COVID-19 spread played a big role in halting the [rocess in Lagos until further notice.

Hundreds of people who visited the NIMC office at Ikeja lamented that they could not be attended to.

They accused the commission of wasting their time as a result of lack of good management.

One fellow claimed to have got to the place as early at 6am said he met over 400 people already in the queue.

PREMIUM TIMES also reported an 85-year-old man, Fatai Akinbile, who was at the NIMC office to correct his date of birth, as expressing how bitter he felt with the entire process.

“I came from Ajah, left the house very early. The issue is they wrote 1953 as my date of birth instead of 1935. I have made attempts to correct it and they referred me to Ikeja,” he said

Akinbile, who claimed he did not understand the announcement that SIM cards would be blocked, said he had been on the process for long and was really fed up.

“I have someone here that offered to help me but when I got here this morning, they say we cannot enter and they are not working,” he said.

Many people said the commission shut down abruptly after distributing forms to some of them.

“They chased everybody saying if we don’t go away, they will call the police. Of a truth, the police arrived shortly,” another person who declined giving his name said.

PREMIUM TIMES said it’s reporter saw police vehicles and some police officers at the entrance of NIMC office with the commission’s doors shut and no official present.

The Federal Government had announced last week that subscribers to all networks in the country are mandated to provide their NIN, else, they would be blocked from using their SIM cards.

The government gave two weeks deadline, after which SIM cards without NIN will be blocked.

Communicating the directive, the spokesperson for the NIMC said the major telephone networks must require all their subscribers to provide their NIN.

“The submission of NIN by subscribers to take place within two weeks (from today December 16, 2020 and end by 30 December, 2020).

“After the deadline, ALL SIMs without NINs are to be blocked from the networks.

“A Ministerial Task Force comprising the Minister and all the CEOs (among others) as members is to monitor compliance by all networks. Violations of this directive will be met by stiff sanctions, including the possibility of withdrawal of operating License,” the statement said.

Despite the short notice and outrage by Nigerians, the government said there would be no extension of the deadline.

In a bid to prevent their SIM cards from being blocked, hundreds of Lagos residents on Monday stormed the NIMC office at Alausa, Ikeja.

The office, which opened officially at 8am, had numerous people waiting at the gate as early as 5am to be registered.

The commission’s office was subsequently shut down and many of the enrollees dispersed.