Officials of the National Identity Management Commission (NIMC) have embarked on an indefinite strike starting from Thursday over concerns on exposure to COVID-19 and salary structure.
A communique signed by the Association of Senior Civil Servants of Nigeria noted that it had convened a meeting in which it discussed issues around the welfare of staff of critical departments and units of the commission that have been affected by COVID-19, and the poor measures provided to ensure that further spread is curtailed.
Other problems flagged by the association are the NIMC salary structure which it says was not adequately represented in the 2021 budget and a lopsided promotion exercise 2019 promotion exercise carried out in 2017 and 2020.
When BusinessDay visited one of the locations for the National Identification Number (NIN) exercise in Ikeja on Wednesday, Lagos, many Nigerians who had gone to be registered were seen loitering outside the vicinity which had its gate locked. One of the people who had been there since 6 am said he had been told by one of the staff that they got directives from their union that they go on strike and suspend the NIN registration.
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In another communique signed by the chairman of the association, Asekokhai Lucky Michael, and the secretary Odika Victor dated 6 January 2021, the members were urged to report to their respective duty posts on Wednesday and carry out no responsibility.
“Subsequent upon the just concluded congress of the above (Association of Senior Civil Servants of Nigeria) mentioned Association that held 6th January 2021, the Executive hereby directs All members of Grade Level 12 and below, in the Head Office and State Offices to report to their respective duty posts tomorrow 7th January 2021 and do nothing.
“All members in 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 parole to ensure total compliance to the directive,” the letter read.
It would be recalled that after the Ministry of Communication and Digital Economy declared a two-week deadline following for linking of SIM cards with NIN following which all unlinked mobile lines will be blocked, Nigerians had trooped out en masse to the enrolment locations across the country to register. The large turnout of people at the various locations brought immediate criticisms for the NIMC and the ministry. The mammoth crowd at one of the enrolment centre located at Alausa, Ikeja, Lagos soon became the poster point for criticism of the poor handling of the registration exercise.
The NIMC was forced to shut down the location at Alausa and other places to enable the provision of better safety measures for everyone. On Wednesday 6 January, NIMC took to Twitter to announce that it has distributed COVID-19 protective materials donated by the World Bank to all enrolment centers in 36 states and the FCT.
However, the Association of Senior Civil Servants of Nigeria alleged that staff members were affected with COVID-19 and adequate measures have not been taken to curtail the spread.
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