OPINION: COVID-19 And The NIN Debacle

By Seun Awogbenle

Everything in Nigeria is going to kill you, says Author and Human rights lawyer Ayo Sogunro. Frankly, nothing else can describe the directive by the Federal Government over the deadline for the enrolment of the National Identity Number, the integration of subscriber information Module (SIM) cards with the National Identity Number (NIN) and the order to enforce the blocking of SIM cards not linked to NIN.

While the policy would have been ingenious without the reality of COVID-19, but clearly with COVID-19 reality, the directive is nothing but a policy somersault and puts the sincerity of government to question in this current fight against COVID-19.

With the way people throng registration centres, it appears we have a government that speaks from both sides of the mouth. A government that will in one breath caution people on the danger of mass gathering and the need to distance physically, while in another breath has a super spreader policy that not just encourages people to gather, but puts people in danger of COVID-19.

Sometimes I wonder how we ended with a thoroughly disconnected government, the danger of the mass gathering at registration centres has been the highlight and headline of mainstream and social media, at least no one can accuse the media of abdicating this time or not doing enough, but how we have a government that manage to miss everything equally misses!

For starters, is it not rather disgraceful that at a time Nigeria is talking about a