Enugu residents have began to rush for their National Identity Number (NIN) to upgrade their telephone handsets’ data capture against Dec. 30, deadline while appealing for extension of the exercise.
The rush was due to the directive given by the Nigerian Communications Commission (NCC) to all telecommunication operators to require all their subscribers to provide valid NIN to update their subscriber identification module (SIM) cards registration records.
Some residents, who spoke to the News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) at different NIN centres on Friday in Enugu said that the rush was necessary to avoid the blockage of their SIM cards by telecommunication operators.
They appealed to the Federal Government to extend the enrolment by two months for everyone to get registered.
Mr Chidozie Ani, one of the residents, who came for the enrolment at Shoprite, a departmental store’s NIN enrolment centre, said that the two weeks given to the public was a short period.
Ani added that many residents had yet to enroll for the identity number while some who had enrolled before now had not collected their cards.
“A considerable period of time should be given for all to be enrolled and for people who had long enrolled and registered to collect their identification cards.
Mrs Ann Chukwu, another resident at the state’s government house enrolment centre, explained that she needed to comply with the government’s directive because she used her mobile phone for business.
“My SIM card is very useful to me because the SIM in my mobile phone is what I use to carry out my business on daily basis. So, If it is blocked it will be financially tough for me,” she said.
At Enugu North Local Council Area, a civil servant who came to enroll for the exercise, Mr Okwy Ude, said that all the centres were already crowded with people, which made it difficult for him to get registered.
“All the centres I have gone to for the enrolment only allow 30 people to enroll per day. With this kind of arrangement, the two weeks given for the exercise will definitely not be enough.
“Nobody will want to allow his or her SIM to be blocked because of its importance; so the NIMC leadership should increase the number of people it attends to daily,” he said.
A staff member of the National Identification Management Commission, who spoke on condition of anonymity urged residents to make use of other NIN registration centres across the state so as to get enrolled without delay.
He listed some centres to include 82 Division Cantonment, UBA, University of Nigeria, Enugu Campus (UNEC) branch, Enugu State Government House and MTN office at Uwani
Others are Enugu North Local Government Secretariat, Oji-River Local Government Secretariat among others. (NAN)
Vanguard News Nigeria