Amidst Mass Enrollment, NIMC Workers Embark On Industrial Action

Members of staff of the National Identity Management Commission (NIMC) in Lagos State have gone on strike.

Reporters who visited the NIMC office, located on the premises of the Nigeria Security and Civil Defence Corps (NSCDC) office in Alausa, on Thursday morning observed that while hundreds of residents were seen as early as 8am, NIMC workers there said they had downed tools.

One of the workers, who spoke on the condition of anonymity, explained that the staff of the agency took the decision to go on strike to demand better welfare packages from the government.

According to him, the recent increase in the number of visitors at the office for registration of National Identification Number (NIN) has caused a lot of stress for the workers.

He added that the workers needed to be paid more for conducting the exercise which he described as an extra duty.

Apart from the demand for allowance, the workers also told newsmen that the government does not care about their safety.

They decried the lack of protective kits at the office, saying they could get infected with COVID-19 as they attend to hundreds of residents daily.

The situation at the NIMC office has left many residents there stranded, including the elderly, pregnant women, and mothers who had come with their children.

Despite the development, the residents have failed to return to their homes, saying they were not notified that the workers would down tools.

They, however, continued to keep watch at the NIMC office with the hope that the striking workers would have a change of heart and attend to them.