I would lose my job if we fail with new ‘Ghanacard’ – NIA Boss

The Executive Secretary of the National Identification Authority (NIA), Josiah Cobbah, has said he will lose his job if the public private partnership (PPP) with MIS Ghana, fails to deliver new ID cards to Ghana. “The contract is not just with NIA, it has been approved by government. We have deadlines…they have to live by those deadlines. I am on contract and I know that if I don’t perform, I would be dealt with…but I need to perform,” Cobbah said Tuesday.

The NIA is in partnership with the Chinese firm to capture data and print the cards for Ghanaians.

Cobbah said the new 120 kilobyte card will integrate and harmonise citizens’ bio data and make it useful globally.

Dr. Cobbah said 15 million Ghanaians will receive the new card over a nine-month period.

Speaking to Starr News, Dr. Cobbah said turf wars with other state institutions issuing ID cards will be a thing of the past under the PPP, adding that citizens’ interest will be protected under the new arrangement.

Meanwhile, Dr. Cobbah at a Press Conference in Accra, disclosed that the 115 million loan facility being secured from Exim China is not only for printing the ID cards.

According to him, the loan would be used to build an identity management infrastructure and the establishment of a national biometric institute.

Dr. Cobbah has also urged Ghanaians to accept the new card saying the benefits far outweigh the previous cards distributed by the authority.

He has also dismissed claims that the NIA is wasting funds with the introduction of the new Ghanacard.

The NIA boss argued that Cote d’Ivoire spent in excess of 300 million dollars while Nigeria used close to 300 million dollars for a similar exercise.