The World Bank has supported the National Identity Management Commission (NIMC) with protective equipment against Covid-19 worth £172m, to assist the agency to carry out enrolments for National Identification Numbers (NIN) across the country.
This is coming after NIMC offices witnessed a turnout of large crowds, especially in Lagos and Abuja in a bid to get their NINs, while the website of the commission crashed due to huge volume of traffic.
READ: How to link your National Identity Number with your phone number
According to a report from Punch, the Director-General of NIMC, Aliyu Aziz, disclosed that the crowds were difficult to control, admitting that massive traffic on the commission’s website led to its crash recently, but noted that it is being resolved.
What the Director-General of NIMC is saying
The NIMC boss pointed out that the World Bank had to provide some support to the commission’s work with protective equipment to prevent the spread of the Covid-19 disease through the massive crowds showing up at NIMC offices.
READ: Here are 6 directives NCC gave MTN, Airtel, others on SIMs without NIN
Aziz said,
- “As much as possible, we shall follow the safety rules. Luckily, we had the World Bank’s support, as it bought a lot of sanitizers, face masks and everything that is required for our work, worth more than £172m. The items are to be distributed to all our offices and so we have the safety kits but we have to follow the rules.”
While responding to the issue of if all staff of the commission were going to work considering the directive by the government limiting the number of workers allowed to work as part of the measure against the spread of Covid-19, Aziz said the NIMC would obey laid down rules.
READ: Buhari sets up committee to create digital identity for all Nigerians
- “We provide essential services but the truth is that we have to adhere to the COVID-19 protocols. We should make sure that we limit the number of workers and ensure that they do shifts. But since there is no total lockdown, we will not lockdown our services totally.”
READ: COVID 19: Debt Service Suspension Initiative extended to June 2021 – World Bank
What you should know
- The Federal Government, on 15 December 2020, directed all telecom operators to block all phone lines that do not register on their networks with a valid National Identification Number.
- Following a public outcry against the length of time of the sudden policy, the government gave 3 weeks extension for subscribers with NIN from December 30, 2020, to 19 January 2021, and also gave 6 weeks extension for subscribers without NIN from 30 December 2020 to 9 February 2021.
- However, it is yet to be seen how this can be achieved within the stipulated time, considering a large number of Nigerians that are yet to have the NIN and the existing measures being implemented by the government due to the surge in the number of coronavirus cases across the country.
![TNS Event](https://i.ibb.co/8cBH227/thumbnail-TNS-GOOGLE-RESIZE-300x250.jpg")
This, to me looks like more to it. Nigeria as a country is in a pitiable situation. God help us from the activities of the deep state such as the promoters of a planned epidemic called covid-19, planned vaccinations with no liability on the manufacturers and compulsory NIMC registration. Your plans will all fail!!!!!!!