A COVID-19 survivor and comedian, Atunyota Akpobome, who is fondly called Ali Baba has taken a swipe at the Federal Government over the registration of the National Identity Number (NIN).
Ali Baba, who is also an actor, stated that the registration exercise came at the wrong time, considering the second wave of COVID-19 in the country.
He believes demanding NIN registration at this time is like supporting the notion that COVID-19 is not real and should not be taken seriously.
“The attitude of the government is also helping to fuel the stories that COVID-19 is not real because if COVID-19 is real, you won’t be talking about people going to do registration for NIN,” said the comedian who featured as a guest on Channels Television’s Sunrise Daily on Friday.
He added, “It is important that people are considered first; when you ask people to go register for NIN, it means that you are endangering the people, it is like inviting them to a beach to come and party.”
Ali Baba noted that Nigeria should have gone past the stage where people would stay in long queues for registration.
He said by asking people to go to the National Identity Management Commission (NIMC) offices, they stand the risk of getting infected with COVID-19.
According to the comedian, it is important for the government to wake up to its responsibility of protecting the people.
He stated, ”It is not now that you have a pandemic that you should insist on that kind of thing, let pandemic be over; whatever you are waiting for can be done later
“The number of people that are going to become victims of this COVID-19 from going to register will nearly be like people that went to the beach.”
“Government has not really been in the good books of believability for people; then to crown it all, in the face of this second wave you are tell people to do national identification registration and people are going and packing themselves in places,” Ali Baba added.
He also asked the government to ensure that the doctors risking their lives to curb the spread of the disease and treat infected patients were well taken care of.
