The National Identification Authority (NIA) has announced that it will soon roll out the next phase of the Ghana Card as an electronic (e) wallet.

This will enable Ghana Card holders make payments and transfer money from the e-wallet using the card.

Speaking to Joy News’ James Avedzi, the Executive Secretary of the NIA, Yayra Korku Deku said the initiative will help the authority generate revenue to support its activities. He is optimistic this will optimise the operations of the authority.

“What it means is that you can put money on your Ghana card and use it to do transactions. That is to pay for anything that you do. And we are hoping that that one will generate a huge sum of money for us”.

He added that the roll out of the e-wallet will be a major step that will transform the activities of the NIA, and also improve electronic money transfer transactions in Ghana.

He revealed that many financial institutions have expressed interest in partnering the NIA to make the initiative a success.

“In fact, we received a proposal from banks that want to come and house it, but what we want to do is we want to build a uniform platform so that once we build it, all these banks can all come on board”, he said.

Providing more details, Mr. Deku also disclose that the authority is planning to partner the Ghana Gold Board to commence some gold trading transactions, using the Ghana Card.

This, he said will enhance transparency and also provide an efficient way for all Ghanaians to legally trade in the financial sector.

“You've heard that Gold Board and others want to do tokenization. So we are also looking at that one where we can come in on to help them. So they adopt the Ghana Card as the means of the transaction where they are tokenizing”.

Mr. Deku stated that all the initiatives are part of phases of the Ghana Card that was designed since its inception.

“You know, the Ghana Card has three profiles on it. The e-ID, the e-passport, and the e-wallet. The e-passport has already been activated. The next one we want to do is the e-wallet. Once we activate the e-wallet, what it means is that you can put money on your Ghana Card and use it to do transactions, that is to pay for anything that you do.”, he explained.