News
NIMC Website Crashes Amid Nigerians Scramble To Meet NIN Deadline
The website of the National Identity Management Commission (NIMC) where the registration for national identification will be done has crashed.
The development has left many Nigerians stranded and hapless as their hope of obtaining their national identification numbers for onward linkage to their phone numbers in good time, before the two weeks deadline issued by the federal government elapses, begins to look bleak.
The federal government has directed service providers and telecommunication companies to disconnect any phone number that’s connected linked to the NIN of the user.
The website of the National Identity Management Commission (NIMC) — the government agency saddled with the issuance of the NIN, has been inactive for the most part on Monday, Eko Hot Blog learnt.
A cybersecurity and privacy rights activist, Gbenga Sesan, drew public attention to the development at about 10:09 a.m on twitter.
In a follow-up tweet at 1:49 p.m, he disclosed that the online portal was still inaccessible.
The National Identity Management Commission website, at 10:05am WAT. That is the website you expect millions of Nigerians to visit in order to get information about your 2-week order, @DrIsaPantami. @nimc_ng @NgComCommission pic.twitter.com/TRoH7Pun22
— 'Gbénga Ṣẹ̀san (@gbengasesan) December 21, 2020
1:46pm WAT. Website still inaccessible.
Will today count as part of the 2-week deadline even though folks you threaten to block their phone lines are unable to get required information? pic.twitter.com/LIqc7geyor
— 'Gbénga Ṣẹ̀san (@gbengasesan) December 21, 2020
As of 3:30 p.m. Monday afternoon, Several attempts to use the site yielded no result.
The cause of the technical hiccup could not be immediately ascertained as neither the NIMC nor the ministry of communications and digital economy have spoken on the development.
However, miffed by the development, some Nigerians have demanded the immediate resignation of communications minister Isa Pantami for failing to keep the NIMC website operational despite endangering public health with the controversial policy.
The development is coming at a time the country is grappling with second wave of coronavirus infections as many Nigerians flocked different NIN centres nationwide, in flagrant disregard for COVID-19 protocols, to enrol for the national database programme before the two-week deadline.
Read Also: NIN/SIM: Crowds Gather At NIMC Offices In Lagos, Flout COVID-19 Protocol
Pantami had on December 15 ordered telecom firms to block any mobile number that is not linked to a national identification number
before December 31, 2020.
Findings showed that at least 163 million telephone lines may be blocked over the controversial NIN requirements.
Advertise or Publish a Story on EkoHot Blog:
Kindly contact us at [email protected]. Breaking stories should be sent to the above email and substantiated with pictorial evidence.
Citizen journalists will receive a token as data incentive.
Call or Whatsapp: 0803 561 7233, 0703 414 5611
