The Executive Secretary of the National Identification Authority, Mr. Wisdom Kwaku Deku, has highlighted the remarkable transformation of Ghana’s national identity system, describing the Ghana Card project as one of the country’s greatest digital achievements.

Speaking at the 20th anniversary celebration, he recounted how the journey evolved from a simple barcode system in 2008 into today’s advanced multipurpose dual-interface chip card system powered by biometric technology for both citizens and foreigners.

He revealed that since the expansion of the nationwide registration exercise in 2018, the NIA has successfully registered over 19.4 million Ghanaians and enrolled more than 259,000 foreigners under the foreign identification system.

According to him, the Ghana Card is now recognized for travel within the Economic Community of West African States sub-region and accepted at over 34,000 terminals globally through the Identity Verification System Platform (IDSP).

He furthur disclosed that over 200 million identity verification requests have been processed successfully without interruption.

The Executive Secretary added that 281 institutions, including banks, fintech companies, telecommunications firms, and government agencies, have already been integrated onto the national identity verification platform, with more institutions expected to join soon.

He also announced that the NIA has expanded operations to Ghanaian missions abroad and plans to extend services to Spain, UAE, China, Korea, the UK, and Nigeria before the end of the year.
Touching on child registration, he disclosed that the authority has resumed registration for children aged 6–14 years and is preparing to begin registration for children aged 0–5 years as part of efforts to ensure legal identity for every Ghanaian from birth.

Mr. Wisdom Kwaku Deku further urged Ghanaians to report to the NIA within 30 days whenever there is any change in their personal information, including names and numbers, stressing that strict enforcement measures against the use of photocopied cards will soon begin.

In addition, Minister for interior , Hon. Muntaka Mubarak,At the launch of the 20th Anniversary celebration of the National Identification Authority, the Minister for the Interior, Muntaka Mohammed-Mubarak, stated that this year’s celebration is aimed at strengthening national identification systems for Ghanaians while promoting shared responsibility among citizens and institutions in safeguarding identity management and national development.

Sompaonline.com/Bismrack Oppong