BY BANYO TEMITAYO
THE Private Telecommunications and Communications Senior Staff Association of Nigeria has said it is impossible to achieve the two weeks deadline given to operators in the industry to link subscribers’ lines with their National Identification Numbers.
The telecom workers insisted that this was a tall order, which could never be met with what they described as the encumbrances in the present approach of registering people.
PTECSSAN made its position on the matter known in a statement, co-signed by its President, Opeyemi Tomori; and General Secretary, Okonu Abdullahi.
“To register about one hundred and seventy million Nigerians that (have) yet to be registered within two weeks is a tall order that can never be met with the present encumbrances in the present approach of registering people,” the Association stressed.
It said, rather than issuing a deadline and threats on linking up NINs to SIMs, the Federal Government should address the bottlenecks encountered by Nigerians in the process of registration, which it said had prevented majority from obtaining their NIN.
The Association said, “We are disturbed by the insensitiveness of the Federal Government in this press statement. We are forced to believe that, as usual, the government wants to punish Nigerians for its own ineptitude.
“At this point in time that there is pervasive hardship in the land brought about by banditry, terrorism, thuggery and increasing high cost of living occasioned by the government’s hike in electricity tariff and fuel pump price, we do not expect the government to impose a new and an avoidable hardship on Nigerians through this directive.
“Rather than issuing a deadline and threats on linking up the NIN to SIMs what we believe the government should do is to address the bottlenecks encountered by Nigerians in the process of registration which have prevented majority of them from obtaining their NIN.”
It added, “Is the government aware that it is only about forty-three million Nigerians that have been able to obtain NIN since its introduction over seven years ago? To expect Nigerians to register and obtain NIN in order to link it up with their SIMs within two weeks, what they could not obtain for these number of years, beats our imagination.
“Nigerians have suffered immensely trying to obtain the NIN to no avail. Stories told by those that have registered are not pleasant. Some were leaving their homes for the registration centers as early as 4am daily for weeks before they could register. While those that could not withstand the rigor part with monies to hasten things up for them.
“We implore the government to withdraw the directive because it was not well thought out and is highly unachievable. To register about one hundred and seventy million Nigerians that (have) yet to be registered within two weeks is a tall order that can never be met with the present encumbrances in the present approach of registering the people.”
The workers also argued that with the second wave of COVID-19 in the country, Nigerians would not be able to storm the registration centers without contracting the virus.
They said, “Furthermore, we are in the Yuletide period during which a lot of Nigerians travel across the country to celebrate with their families. To ask them to register at this time is as good as putting paid to their festivities.
“In the light of the above, we implore the government to rather shift its focus on getting more Nigerians registered seamlessly. Registration centers should be brought closer to the people. By this, we are suggesting that there should be at least two registration centers in each of the wards throughout the federation…
“We understand the importance of having a comprehensive database for the country and at the same time having NIN linked with SIMs. We implore the government to adopt the best of approaches in putting them in place. All these can be done without necessarily causing hardship to Nigerians.”
