NIMC: Nigerians React To Violation Of COVID-19 Protocols

Following a mammoth crowd that stormed the National Identity Management Commission (NIMC) office at Alausa in Ikeja, Lagos on Monday, Nigerians have lashed out at the Lagos State Government and the Minister of Communications, Dr. Isa Ali Pantami.

AllNews Nigeria understands that the massive turn up at NIMC office is as a result of the mandate given by the Federal Government on December 14 that all Subscriber Identity Module (SIM) not synchronized with valid National Identity Number (NIN) by December 30th, 2020 will be disconnected.

On Monday, December 21, photos went viral on social media showing a massive crowd gathered at the NIMC office in Alausa, Lagos. They were either not wearing face masks or not observing physical distancing, in clear violation of the protocol put in place by the government in a bid to tackle the spread of COVID-19 which has been on the increase in the last one week.

Reacting to the development, Nigeria on a micro-blogging site, Twitter criticized the government for what was described as a thoughtless policy.

AllNews Nigeria captured some. See below:

Dear @jidesanwoolu, when are you going to order the closure of NIMC office at Alausa for flouting the recent Covid-19 guidelines?

— Wale Adetona (@iSlimfit) December 21, 2020

Seal up a club but allow thousands of people gather at NIMC office just cos they want to collect NIN. We no dey ever think straight for this country.

— Wale Adetona (@iSlimfit) December 21, 2020

See crowd at NIMC office, Alausa. No physical distancing in the face of COVID 19 increase. The government was quick to close events centres, bars, clubs, schools... with immediate effect. But see now.

How's Nigeria different from Uganda? pic.twitter.com/EtRWpXGLLv

— Your Sure Guy...?™ (@PreciousOtutu) December 21, 2020

Government is its own worst enemy, otherwise, why would it shut down bars and clubs due to Covid-19 guidelines(good move), yet turn a blind eye to the mammoth crowd at NIMC Alausa, a crowd that came to be, due to the draconian policy it came up with. Coronavirus isn't selective?

— DEBBIE (@DebsExtra) December 21, 2020

“NDLEA SWAT are out there picking up the baton SARS left.

“They shut down bars in Lagos because of COVID-19 yet thousands of People are gathered at the NIMC office. “Watching Nigerians suffer gives this Government orgasm.” said Duke of Ibadan @asiwajularry

“Concerning the NIN, FG should try to create an app to register everyone without going to the NIMC office, more than 87% of Nigerians are using fingerprint phones, which cover more than 150million citizens. It shouldn’t be a problem making fingerprint censor as thumbprint part Of the registration. This will make it easier for anyone to register without the nimc officials extorting them and this will make it more accessible for more than thousands of people at a time.
If I’m not mistaken it shouldn’t take people more than 5-10minutes to complete.” said @inported Alhaji

READ ALSO: NIN Registration: Ministry Of Comms Unveils 'Easy Way' To Be Enrolled Into National Identity Database, Issued Card

“They canceled all concerts because of Covid-19 but here’s NIMC, a government office filled with hundreds of people. This government is tactless!!!" said @vhic_tore

“Right now, there’s mammoth crowd at the NIMC office at Alausa because of the NIN registration policy of the Federal Government. Meanwhile, the government has already budgeted over N540bn for COVID-19 vaccines. I think the government knows what its doing.” said @topeakindoye

“I don’t understand why the government will shut down all social gatherings because of COVID-19 and then open up NIMC offices for NIN registration. Or is it that COVID-19 no dey near government offices?” said @o_kanny

“Is covid a joke to this government l? Is this madness aimed at endangering lives or something? So they expect us to keep up with this NIMC rubbish so that this pandemic can kill us all.” said @timi_pr