The National Identification Authority (NIA) has announced that it has completed printing the 541,529 backlogs of Ghana cards and are ready for collection.
On February 28, 2023, the NIA assured Members of Parliament that it will print the cards within 11 days.
The expedited printing exercise, which began on 18 March 2023, “came to a smooth end on Monday, 27 March 2023 with all records in backlog printed, the ultimate objective of this exercise was to print records of registered Ghanaians in backlog since July 2022,” a statement issued by the corporate affairs directorate of the NIA said.
According to the NIA “With focus, rigour and coherence in project management and implementation, NIA achieved this feat with a dedicated team of supervisors, assistant technical support officers and assistant technical enrolment officers drawn from its headquarters, regional and district offices. The staff worked fervently for ten continuous days in two shifts — day and night.
“The printed cards, which are now being packaged, will be distributed to NIA’s Regional and District Offices nationwide from today Wednesday, 29 March 2023 to Sunday, 2 April 2023 for issuance to registered applicants,” the statement said.
“All Ghanaians who have registered for their Ghana Cards since July 2022 but are yet to receive them, are assured that effective Wednesday, 5 April 2023, they can visit the District or Regional Offices where they registered for their printed cards to be issued to them.
“The NIA stands committed to serving the public and the nation as whole with respect, dignity, integrity and efficiency as a dedicated and responsible public sector institution,” the statement added.
Start of printing
The NIA, in a press release dated 22 March 2023, announced the commencement of the expedited printing of the backlog of 541,529 records accumulated since July 2022.
“Preparatory works for the expedited printing started on Wednesday, 15th March 2023 and included the configuration of printers, print servers and laminators, as well as the deployment of additional staff from NIA’s regional and district offices to augment the staff capacity at the Head Office,” the 22 March statement said.
“The commencement of the expedited printing follows the payment of GHC100 million by Government of Ghana (GoG) to CalBank PLC, which then caused the release of a quantity of blank cards to NIA on Tuesday, 14 March 2023. The printing of the blank cards is expected to last for 11 days, ending on 29 March 2023,” the Authority further said.
At the end of the exercise, the NIA says it “will make the cards available at its regional and district offices nationwide and announce to the public when the persons who registered for the cards since July 2022 should go to their respective NIA offices for the cards to be issued to them”.