NIN-SIM registration wahala: NSCDC officers allegedly use koboko on Nigerian crowd, journalist
Some Nigerians who are now rushing to register for the National Identity Numbers (NIN) were flogged for forming rowdy crowds, a recent report said.
After nine deadline extensions, the federal government ordered telecoms operators to bar Subscriber Identification Module (SIM) cards that are not linked to NIN from making outgoing calls.
The decision caused a surge in NIN registrations as Nigerians stormed designated centres to get registered.
One of such surges at a centre approved by the National Identification Management Commission (NIMC), the government agency responsible for NIN registration, reportedly degenerated into chaos as security officers flogged an ‘unruly’ crowd.
Techpoint Africa journalist, Oluwanifemi Kolawole, was among those flogged by officers of the Nigeria Security and Civil Defence Corps (NSCDC) who were in charge of crowd control at the NIMC office in the Alausa area of Lagos on Thursday.
“Whips and batons are used in riots and other violent situations. However, for a civil action like registering for a national identity, we find it worrying that whips, and not more humane solutions, are the preferred method for crowd control,” Techpoint Africa said.
“Since Monday, there has been a crowd here. I’ve been coming since Monday,” a lady was quoted to have said.
