The National Identification Authority has so far, registered a total of 9,813,242 eligible Ghanaians, printed 8,408,721 cards and has issued cards to 6,186,679 applicants who have gone through the approved process.Executive Secretary of the NIA, Professor Kenneth Agyeman Attafuah, announced this when management of the NIA met with the Eastern regional media to present the roll-up plan of the upcoming exercise as well as brief the media on the successes of the exercise in the 15 regions so far.The Mass registration exercise of the (NIA) for a national Ghana card is set to begin from Wednesday, March 4, 2020 in the Eastern Region.In all, he indicated that 833 registration centres had been earmarked to be used for the exercise in all the 33 municipal and districts in the Region from 7am-5pm daily throughout the period, excluding Sundays and statutory public holidays.Prof Attafuah noted that the mass registration exercise for the Ghana card had been conducted in all the 15 regions already within a record time as scheduled, and the Eastern Region was the last and therefore appealed to the media to be vigilant and help the authority conduct its business successfully for the attainment of a robust, dependable and resilient national identification system.He reiterated that the registration was free and opened to all residents aged 15 and above, adding that under no circumstance should anyone pay to get the card and called on the media to be the eye of the authority by reporting on infractions on the integrity of the exercise, but caution against raising false alarm.He explained that the registration for the Ghana card was meant for only Ghanaians, however, foreigners who wanted to have dual citizenship could register at a fee of 120 US dollars with a bold inscription on the card non-Ghanaian.According to him after the mass registration exercise, the NIA registration would continue unabated for citizens to acquire their cards at all the NIA offices and other designated places to be announced later and noted that citizens who would want to register at the comfort of their homes and offices would pay 100 Ghana cedis for the premium service.Prof. Attafuah noted that the biggest challenge of the authority in the conduct of their mandate so far had been the poor internet connectivity, which caused delays in the application process, adding that “but for the poor internet connectivity once all documents of an applicant were verified to be true, it should not take more than 30 minutes for one to acquire the Ghana card”.He singled out the just ended exercise in the Volta Region, as the most successful in terms of internet connectivity, applicant’s compliance and adherence to the rules in terms of queuing and giving way for the elderly and vulnerable persons to be registered.Col. Peter Kwame Ghansah, Head of Operations NIA, said the NIA would set aside Friday and Saturday for all NIA officials, journalists and government officials in the Region to register for their cards before the mass registration commences.He said the postal address should not be a barrier for people not to get registered because it has an offline mode which helps to pick up addresses of all citizens anywhere they found themselves.Mr Francis Palmdeti, Head of Corporate Affairs NIA, advised people not to change dates of birth but those who genuinely did not know their dates of birth would be given an estimated date of birth.