All is set for the issuance of National Identification numbers, also known as Ghana Card numbers, to newborn babies in Ghana, Vice President Mahamudu Bawumia has announced.

This follows the successful integration of the databases of the Births and Deaths Registry, the National Identification Authority and the Ghana Health Service.

The Vice President, who made the disclosure on Saturday July 22, 2023, said the first of such Ghana Card number was issued to a newborn baby on Friday, July 21, 2023 after a successful test run of the system.

"The work of integrating the databases has been completed, the full test was done yesterday [Saturday], and I am happy to say that the first Ghana Card number for a baby was issued yesterday [Saturday].

"So, in the next month or two, all babies born in Ghana, once they take them for weighing, will be issued the Ghana Card number, and also get their Birth Certificate Identification number at the same time, because the two databases are talking to each other. The nationality of the parents will be established as part of the process”. 

"This is very transformational," Dr Bawumia noted, explaining that they will have these numbers from the time they are babies till they pass away.

Officials of the National Identification Authority (NIA) say cards bearing the biometrics and other data will be issued to the children when they are older, after their digits and other features are fully formed.

Speaking in Cape Coast at the 75th anniversary celebrations of the Ghana National College, Dr Bawumia emphasized that the issuance of ID numbers at birth was an integral part of the government’s ongoing digitalization agenda, designed to prepare the nation to fully partake in the fourth industrial revolution.

The Ghana Card is increasingly becoming the single source of proof of identity, with the unique number serving several purposes including the social security, health insurance and tax identification number.

Ghana National College

Hailing the impact the Ghana National College has had on Ghana's pre-and post colonial life, Vice President Bawumia challenged managements, staff and students in educational institutions to embrace the possibilities offered by Artificial Intelligence (AI) to improve teaching, problem-solving and critical thinking, noting that it could be deployed meaningfully to bridge the gap between the developed and developing world.

"If we are in agreement that the boys and girls in our schools today are being trained to compete on the global stage, there is every justification for our students to be given exposure to AI.

"Government’s ongoing digitalization agenda is ample testimony of its appreciation of AI and the commitment to ensure that this country is not left behind.”

“We have focused on pursuing digitalisation as part of our economic strategy because the Fourth Industrial Revolution is upon us and we must be part of the modern world...

"Whilst the government will do its part by leading the charting of a pathway to the deployment of meaningful AI in our national life, I expect our educational authorities to devise and deploy innovative teaching strategies that factor in ICT as a key ingredient," he added.