Minister of State for Health, Dr. Olorunnimbe Mamora, says the ongoing National Identification Number enrolment may be suspended over COVID-19 risks.
Mamora also called on the National Identity Management Commission to go back to the drawing board and re-order the enrolment process to avoid large crowds at its centres nationwide.
The minister, who is a member of the Presidential Task Force on COVID-19, said the government has a duty to ensure Nigerians are protected at all times.
He spoke on Monday while featuring on Channels Television’s Sunrise Daily programme, stating, “I don’t feel good looking at the picture where people are gathered in multitude; it’s like a super spreader event which we don’t like. But I’m also aware that the relevant ministry which is the communications and digital economy is looking at this.
“My understanding is that the whole process may be suspended so as to reorder the whole process in terms of management of the crowd because it was never intended that it would become a rowdy process like that.”
He further said, “We have a duty as government to ensure that people are protected; we also have a duty to ensure people comply within the limit of what is good for the society at large.”
NIMC workers has last Thursday embarked on strike over exposure to COVID-19 risks, lack of personal protective equipment and poor funding. But they called off the industrial action some 24 hours later.
Federal Government through the Nigerian Communication Commission had ordered telecommunications companies to deactivate telephone lines of subscribers who failed to link their phones to their National Identity Number.
It also said telcos subscribers with NIN have January 19 as deadline to link their NIN with their SIM cards while subscribers without NIN have until February 9 to do so.