Members of staff of the National Identity Management Commission (NIMC) in Rivers State have joined their colleagues in other states to embark on strike.
This is as the workers are demanding for better welfare packages and COVID 19 protective gears to protect them from contracting the virus.
There has been a rush to the NIMC licensed registration centres including the head office along Aba Road as a result of the threat by Government to disconnect lines not linked to a national identity number (NIN).
But the NCC had in a statement on Wednesday said it will not disconnect any phone number that is not linked to NIN after the January 19th deadline.
City News gathered hundreds of Port Harcourt residents have been reporting to the NIMC head office along Aba Road from as early as 5am with hopes they will be enrolled and given a NIN.
Some of them who spoke with our correspondent today expressed displeasure over the strike action.
They blamed the federal government for not putting there house in order before coming up with a failed programme thar has brought untold hardship on the citizens in a bid to meet the January 19th deadline.
But 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 NIN registration 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.
He 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.
Credit: City News
