Many Nigerians afraid of having their lines deactivated, today risked their lives by storming the Alausa office of the National Identity Management Commission (NIMC) for registration.

The incident happened on Monday in Lagos amid battle with a second wave of the COVID-19 pandemic.

The federal government, through the Ministry of Communications and Digital Economy, this month issued a two-week ultimatum to all telecommunications operators in the country to block all Subscriber Identification Modules (SIMs) without National Identification Number (NIN).

The Monday rush is not unconnected to the ultimatum as Nigerians attempt to register for the NIN and beat the federal government’s deadline for SIM deactivation.

The House of Representatives has asked the NCC to extend the two-week ultimatum to ten weeks but the Commission is yet to make a public reversal of its notice as of Monday.

The Lagos state government on Friday announced a slew of COVID-19 restrictions.

Although there was no blanket ban on public gatherings of people under 300, a minimum of two meters’ distance between seated or standing guests is required.

On Sunday, Nigeria recorded 501 new confirmed COVID-19 cases and 3 deaths.