NIN registration suspended as NIMC staff commence strike

The National Identity Management Commission (NIMC) unit of the Association of Senior Civil Servants of Nigeria (ASCSN), has directed members to embark on strike.

A communique released at the end of a congress and signed by Micheal Asekokhai, ASCSN NIMC unit and Victor Odia, the union’s secretary, said the industrial action was over poor welfare package, lack of tools and risk of exposure to coronavirus.

“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,” the communique read.

Some of their demands are 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.

They also demanded 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).

“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 throng NIMC offices across the country in large numbers.