Thousands of Badagry residents, who came for registration at the National Identification Management Commission (NIMC) office on Tuesday were stranded as members of staff stopped working.The News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) reporter, who monitored the situation reports that the applicants were advised to wait until electricity supply was restored.
NAN also reports that power supply was available in the coastal town but the supply to the commission was disconnected by the officials of the Eko Electricity Distribution Company (EKEDC).NAN reports that the commission’s staff consequently decided to down tools from April 29.
Meanwhile, some stranded applicants, who came from different areas of Badagry Division told NAN of their frustrations, as they tried to go through the registration process.Mr Fred Okoro, a staff of Julius Berger, said the exercise was frustrating, adding that “I live in Epe but because I work around this place, I decided to register here.
“We were told to wait until there is power supply but honestly there is supply everywhere but we don’t know when there will be electricity supply in the commission,” he said.Okoro who wanted to register because he required it for his passport urged the commission to do all it could to commence the exercise again.
Mrs Seweka Avoseh, a business woman, said that she needed to do some transactions in the bank, hence the need for registration. “I was here yesterday, they were not working and today they said we should wait for power supply. “We made arrangements among ourselves to buy fuel for the generating set but they said it is not allowed.
“Nobody is happy about this. We left our homes hoping to get this ID card but the staff are saying they can’t work. This is frustrating,” she said. Also speaking, Mr Toyin Sewedo, a job seeker, said that he needed the NIMC to complete his application online.Sewedo said that he had been coming to the commission to collect his Identification card without luck.He appealed to the authorities in charge to find lasting solution to this problem.
Meanwhile, a source from the NIMC office told NAN that there was no provision made for the office to buy fuel.According to the source, some applicants had written a petition against the commission’s Badagry office, for collecting money from the applicants to buy fuel.
The source said that the commission was asked to stop collecting money for lamination of the card or to buy fuel.
The source also said that the local government authorities in Badagry were not providing necessary logistics for smooth operations of the commission.
NAN reports that as at the time of filing the report, some of the applicants had brought the EKEDC to restore supply to the office and skeletal operations had commenced. (NAN)
