The National Identification Authority (NIA) has so far successfully registered over seven million qualified Ghanaians in the ongoing mass registration exercise for the issuance of the Ghana Card.
Out of the number, the Authority has been able to printed over six million cards and issued four million of them to qualified Ghanaians.
“The NIA has so far conducted the mass registration exercise in the following regions: Volta, Oti, Northern, Savannah, North East, Upper East, Upper West, Bono, Ahafo, Bono East and Ashanti,” Professor Agyemang Attafuah, the Chief Executive Officer of the Authority, disclosed at a press briefing in Takoradi in the Western Region.
“The NIA has four more regions to complete the exercise. It must be indicated that the NIA from the pilot phase up till the 16th January, 2020, has registered a total of 7,227,939 eligible Ghanaians, printed 6,282,192 cards and issued cards to 4,173,173 qualified Ghanaians,” he added.
The press briefing was to present the revised roll-out plan for the mass registration exercise that will enable all qualified Ghanaians residing in Western North, Western and Central regions to be registered onto the National Identity Register and to be issued with the Ghana Card.
It was also to share some of the significant activities and milestones of the NIA toward the attainment of a robust, dependable and resilient National Identification System (NIS).
Professor Kenneth Agyemang Attafuah said the Authority is determined to register as many qualified Ghanaians as they can.
“Every Ghanaian, aged between zero and infinity, is to be registered and issued with the Ghana Card. Ghanaians living in Ghana will receive the card at no cost to the individual, while Ghanaians living outside the country will pay a fee for the card. The card is valid for 10 years, after which every citizen will be required to renew it at a fee. Replacement of the card upon loss or destruction at any time will also attract a fee. Two types of cards will be issued: Ghanaian children under 15 years will receive a two-dimensional (2D) bar code card, while Ghanaians 15 years and above will receive smart, dual-interface chip-embedded cards that can be used in both contact and contactless transactions. The smart card meets the standards of the International Civil Aviation Organization (ICAO), and has certification from the International Organization for Standardization. As I indicated earlier, the Ghana Card is fully- compliant with the ECOWAS biometric ID card specifications. It also has tactile properties that allow the blind to identify the card”.
The mass registration will be carried out concurrently in the Western North, Western and Central regions at the end of January.
Professor Attafuah announced that the NIA “is set to commence registration for the Ghana Card simultaneously in the three regions from Monday, 27th January 2020 to Tuesday, 18th February 2020. The registration centres will be open from 8:00am to 5:00 pm each day excluding Sundays and public holidays”.
Western North Region will have 138 registration centers while Western Region will have 328. Central Region will have the largest registration centers at 372.
The Authority has projected to registered over 80 percent of qualified Ghanaians in the three regions.
Out of the number of qualified Ghanaians registered so far, farmers are leading with over 1 million of them registered.
“If you look at the occupations that we are registering it will interest you to note that farmers are in the majority. So far, we have registered 1,253,000 farmers, 1,161, 527 students and 623, 145 retail and market traders. We have registered 381,969 unemployed and 293,589 teachers,” Head of Corporate Affairs of the National Identification Authority ACI Francis Palmdeti revealed.
By Eric Yaw Adjei|3news.com|Ghana