Some Nigerians at the National Identity Management Commission (NIMC) office in Anambra State on Thursday, have lamented their inability to register and obtain their National Identity Number(NIN).
The News Agency of Nigeria reports that the entrance gate into the office was locked as the applicants loitered around.
Some of the applicants who expressed frustration said they arrived at the office as early as 5:30am with the aim of being attended to early, but to no avail.
Mrs Njideka Anumudu, a nursing mother, said she had been visiting the office since last December without being registered.
Anumudu said she has spent over four hours at NIMC just to submit her form and get registered but the gate remained locked and no official was talking to anybody.
“The information we got is that they are on strike,” she added.
Also, one Jideofor Chukwujekwu who came from Onitsha after his previous failed attempts to register at NIMC offices in some local government areas described the exercise as “unnecessary burden on Nigerians.”
Chukwujekwu said NIMC should have enough manpower to register all Nigerians before the deadline.
“It is frustrating and I am getting tired. If they want to freeze our phone lines for not having identification numbers, let them do so.
“People in charge say they don’t have Power supply, they don’t have machines, yet they want to conclude registration this month, “ he lamented.
A NIMC official who identified himself as Austin refused to give details of what the challenges were, but simply said: “We are not working.”
