By Chika Otuchikere, Abuja

Oppositions have begun against the Federal Government’s two weeks ultimatum to Telecom providers to link individuals SIM cards with their National Identity Number (NIN) or block subscribers who failed to comply.

Telecom workers, who kicked against the directives, however advised the Federal Government to addressed problems associated with acquisition of the NIN.

Workers in the sector under the umbrella of Private Telecommunications and Communications Senior Staff Association of Nigeria, (PTECSSAN), at the weekend told the government bluntly that the directive is an impossibility.

 In a statement by the PTECSSAN President and General Secretary, Opeyemi Tomori and Okonu Abdullahi, respectively, they said; “to register about one hundred and seventy million Nigerians that are yet to be registered within two weeks is a tall order that can never be met with the present encumbrances in the present approach of registering people.”

The workers appealed to the federal government not to punish Nigerians for its ineptitude, lamenting that “We are disturbed by the insensitiveness of the federal government in this press statement.

“We are forced to believe that, as usual, the government wants to punish Nigerians for her own ineptitude. At this point in time that there is pervasive hardship in the land brought about by banditry, terrorism, thuggery and increasing high cost of living occasioned by the government’s hike in electricity tariff and fuel pump price, we do not expect the government to impose a new and an avoidable hardship on Nigerians through this directive.

“Rather than issuing a deadline and threats on linking up the NIN to SIMs, what we believe the government should do is to address the bottlenecks encountered by Nigerians in the process of registration which have prevented majority of them from obtaining their NIN.

“Is the government aware that it is only about 43 million Nigerians that have been able to obtain NIN since its introduction over seven years ago? To expect Nigerians to register and obtain NIN in order to link it up with their SIMs within two weeks what they could not obtain for these number of years beats our imagination.

“Nigerians have suffered immensely trying to obtain the NIN to no avail. Stories told by those that have registered are not pleasant. Some were leaving their homes for the registration centres as early as 4am daily for weeks before they could register. While those that could not withstand the rigor part with monies to hasten things up for them.

“We implore the government to withdraw the directive because it was not well thought out and is highly unachievable. To register about 170 million Nigerians that are yet to be registered within two weeks is a tall order that can never be met with the present encumbrances in the present approach of registering the people.

“By giving two weeks to Nigerians that have not registered to do so will surely add more hardship on them. The Government is practically telling them to abandon their businesses and whatever they are doing that bring incomes for them within that long period of time.

“Also, with the second wave of COVID-19 in the country Nigerians will not be able to storm the registration centres without contracting the virus.

“Furthermore, we are in the Yuletide period during which a lot of Nigerians travel across the country to celebrate with their families. To ask them to register at this time is as good as putting paid to their festivities.

“In the light of the above we implore the government to rather shift its focus on getting more Nigerians registered seamlessly. Registration centres should be brought closer to the people. By this, we are suggesting that there should be at least two registration centres in each of the wards throughout the federation.

“If and when all remaining Nigerians have been able to register and obtain their NIN they need not be bothered to link their NIN’s with their operators, the government through the National Identification Management Commission, NIMC, and Nigeria Communication Commission, NCC, should liaise with the telecoms operators to synchronize the NIN with the subscribers’ SIMs after all, the operators still rely on the NIMC to authenticate NIN provided by subscribers before they can link them up to their SIMS.

“We understand the importance of having a comprehensive database for the country and at the same time having NIN linked with SIMs we implore the government to adopt the best of approaches in putting them in place. All these can be done without necessarily causing hardship to Nigerians,” the workers stated.

Calls have been made from several quarters, including the National Assembly, for the federal government to extend the deadline for the linkage. Already, there are allegations that officials of the NIMC are smiling to the bank through fleeing Nigerians that are desperate to link the NIN to their SIM Cards.