File photo[/caption] The National Identification Authority has been forced to shut down its official website as Ghanaians jumped onto the portal to register for their national identification cards. The Authority announced on Friday that the website https://register.nia.gov.gh is temporarily unavailable for public usage, explaining, “the site has seen unusual traffic occasioning its temporary shutdown.” According to the statement, the portal was meant to be launched formally when all the operational and technical components are ready, but following the announcement by NIA’s Executive Secretary about the possibility for people to register there, its usage went up. The National Identification Authority has kicked start a national exercise to get a national ID card for every Ghanaian. The project is ongoing in some selected districts in the national capital, Accra. The exercise has been characterized by long queues as huge number of people troop to the registration centres. “It must be pointed out that an applicant who fills the registration form online will still go through the interview process at the registration centre. For the avoidance of doubt, we restate the registration process below,” the NIA stated. Before a Ghana Card is issued, an applicant must go through the following steps:
- A registration official interviews the applicant and assists him/her to fill an application form with the required personal details. An applicant who fills the form online will only be interviewed.
- An MRW operator then keys in personal details of the applicant from the completed application form and scans any other additional documents (other institutional ID’s – SSNIT, DVLA, Voters ID etc.) that the applicant may have.
- The MRW operator also captures the applicant’s biometric data (fingerprint, iris & photograph) as well as his/her signature.
- A printed slip specifying the information captured is given to the applicant to confirm that the information captured is accurate before the card can be printed.
- The card is printed, after which the applicant is required to authenticate his/her fingerprints with a verification officer to render the card activated.