Head of Corporate Affairs at the National Identification Authority (NIA), Abudu Abdul-Ganiyu, has revealed that over 12 million Ghanaians have been successfully issued the Ghana Card.

Five million others have been registered but are yet to receive their cards.

According to him, the NIA has been able to build a comprehensive national identification database since it started registering people for the Ghana Card.

Speaking on Beyond the Headlines on the Joy Prime channel, on Monday, Mr. Abdul-Ganiyu stated that the registration process, which is still ongoing, has recorded a massive turnout of persons who want to get the identity card.

"First of all, you have to consider the fact that we needed to build the database, This was more of building it from scratch, and as we speak, we have successfully registered about 17 million Ghanaians."

"Almost every day, you have people queuing up to register at the various registration centres; so in real-time, you’d always have to go into the data and begin to understand what the trend is," he revealed.

He added: "We have printed about 15 million cards as we speak and we have about 12 million cards currently in the hands of Ghanaians."

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He noted that now that the database has been built, the uses and purposes of the Ghana Card can fully be explored, saying "I think we [NIA] have been successful."

Dealing with Backlogs

Abudu Abdul-Ganiyu stated that provisions are being made for the five (5) million Ghanaians who are yet to receive their cards due to various reasons.

"Unfortunately, we still have some people who have not been able to come to pick their cards so those cards are in our possession, and we’re hoping that by end of October [or] early November, we’ll be able to go back to the regions and districts and get all of these cards issued" NIA's Head of Corporate Affairs mentioned,

The NIA says it will continue to have what it describes as continuous registration after all the cards in its possession have been distributed.

This, Mr. Abdul-Ganiyu said, will help the Authority to register eligible persons for the card.

“It’s not as if registration is done with some people and that’s the end of it. NIA has come to stay [and] we’d continue to register Ghanaians and render all other identity management services as far as the industry or the identity management space is concerned," Abudu Abdul-Ganiyu told Benjamin Akakpo on Monday.

Some benefits of the Ghana Card

The Ghana Card has been built with an e-passport component which allows for easy identification of travelers across the world, especially in the West African sub-region.

Mr. Abdul-Ganiyu highlighted that "to travel to other parts of the world, you’d still need your paper passport but the purpose your Ghana Card can serve is that in any part of the world that you find yourself, if an individual, an institution or an authority around this globe wants to establish your identity as a Ghanaian, certainly you’d show the Ghana Card and that’s the end of it."

The integration of Ghana Card and GRA operations

He said the integration of the Ghana Card in the operations of the Ghana Revenue Authority has already been finalised.

According to him, the initiative has contributed to the collection of taxes, as over 15 million now have access to their tax identification numbers, a development he acknowledges will lead to an increase in revenue mobilisation at the Ghana Revenue Authority.

This means "for anyone who has registered for the Ghana Card, your personal identification number now replaces what was your tax identification number."

"What we have also done is to collaborate with the GRA where we have established registration centres at 34 offices of the Ghana Revenue Authority across the country. We’re looking forward to scaling that up in the next couple of months."

"Immediately, you may not be looking at the impact in terms of the numbers but this thing is going to exist for good," he stated.