Staff of the National Identity Management Commission, NIMC, in Akure the Ondo State capital on Friday joined the indefinite nationwide strike embarked on on Thursday by their colleagues.
The commission’s staff had on Thursday gone on an indefinite nationwide strike against alleged poor working conditions amid COVID-19 pandemic challenges.
Indeed, people who were at the commission’s Akure office to obtain their NIN on Friday left disappointed as the entrance gate was locked. A security personnel on guard said “We are on strike until further notice.”
Some persons who waited for some minutes said it was shameful for NIMC staff to embark on indefinite strike action at a time when Nigerians needed their services.
It was however alleged, according to The Nation, that some Akure NIMC staff demanded between N2000 and N5000 to attend to applicants before the strike action.
Some claimed they bought registration forms for N50 and another N2000 to fast track the process.
An applicant who simply gave her name as Rachel said she had been visiting Akure NIMC office for the past one week without getting registered.
She said a man who claimed to be a staff asked her for N3000.
Reports from applicants in others parts of the state like Oka Akoko, Owo and Okitipupa said they were asked to pay to make photocopies of the forms.
The striking staff who are protesting against poor allowance and working conditions, complained that they have not been given protection equipment, although they have been listed as essential workers amid the COVID-19 lockdown.
“As you know workers on level 12 downwards are not supposed to be at work, but we came out to do this work voluntarily. Because of the government’s attitude, we are withdrawing our voluntary services until something is done about it,” the protest leader in Yenagoa, Bayelsa State, reportedly told Nigerian Tribune.
He said while they work under pressure to enable people get their national identification numbers, government has failed to provide the essential tools to function effectively.
Nigeria, Africa’s most populous country, has been grappling with the second wave of COVID-19.
So far, 92,705 COVID-19 infections have been confirmed, 76,396 cases were discharged and 1,319 people have died in Nigeria’s 36 states and the Federal Capital Territory, according to Nigeria Centre for Disease Control (NCDC).
On Thursday, the NCDC confirmed one new COVID-19-related death and 1,354 infections.
The virus has claimed more than 1.88 million lives in 191 countries and regions since first being detected in Wuhan, China in December 2019, according to US-based Johns Hopkins University. More than 87.3 million people have been infected worldwide so far.
