The National Identification Authority (NIA) has revealed that it is yet to issue out some 763,877 Ghana cards to registered Ghanaians.
The Authority indicated that with cards yet to be issued, some individuals have failed to pick up them up from their respective district and regional offices.
Director of Corporate Affairs at the NIA, Abdul Abdul Ganiyu, stated that he has no qualms with persons who have registered with cards yet to be printed. He explained that such persons have genuine concerns.
“Now, for people who have registered so far, right from the start, what we call pilot registration up to this point, we have registered 17,151,488 Ghanaians. We have printed 16,623,128 card and cards yet to be printed are 528,360. Out of the printed cards, cards we have currently put in the hands of Ghanaians are 15,859,251. Cards that are yet to be issued; meaning these cards have been printed but not issued [as] the individuals have not gone for those cards, we have 763,877 and this is as at the 9th of September, 2022. This statistics keep changing and we update that on the website every week.”
Dr Abdul Abdul Ganiyu
Dr Ganiyu indicated that persons whose cards have been printed but have not been able to go to their respective district office for those cards to be issued poses a problem for the Authority. He revealed that most of these unissued cards came about after the mass registration as people were moving across the country and registered anywhere they found an NIA registration centre.
Challenges in issuing printed cards
The NIA Director of Public Affairs highlighted that albeit some of the cards were received instantly, due to poor internet network for instance, some of the cards were not readily printed.
“But having come back to the head office after the mass registration, we have been able to print these backlog cards and whatever address that was given or the location of the registration, that is where those cards will be sent. So, after we established the permanent regional and district offices, we have moved these cards to those districts. But what happens is that people call us to tell us that where I registered, I do not live there anymore…”
Dr Abdul Abdul Ganiyu
Dr Ganiyu indicated that although logistics and arrangements must be put in place to target individuals whose cards are yet to be issued, it is a cost-intensive activity to run. With this, he noted that the backlog of cards is a “huge nightmare” for the NIA as it is faced with addressing the needs of persons who have failed to go to their respective registration offices for their cards to be issued.
“So, if someone registered at a particular town and moves to town B, the person’s card has been printed, the data tells us where the registration took place [and] we can only take the cards to where the person registered.”
Dr Abdul Abdul Ganiyu
Dr Ganiyu explained that major challenge that continues to confront the NIA is that, these cards continues to be in its inventory and it comes at a huge cost as the Authority must keep the cards well so they don’t damage, lose their conditionality or get lost.
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