NIA confident about meeting 80% target for Ghana Card registration after mop up

The National Identification Authority (NIA) has explained that the reason it is undertaking a mop up registration exercise for the Ghana Card in regions across the country is because it failed to meet its target.

The NIA had set a target to capture 80% of the registrable population for the National ID card but failed to meet it within the stipulated time.

The NIA commenced the mass Ghana Card registration exercise in 2019.

It had registered over 7.2 million people as of January 16, 2020.

Acting Director of Communications of the Authority, ACI Francis Palmdeti, told Citi FM on Friday, August 21, 2020, that the NIA had scheduled mop up exercise after the just ended voters registration exercise.

“We had already planned some things just after the voters’ registration. These are the issuance of cards to those who have registered but haven’t received the card and also do a mop-up in some regions because our target was to meet 80% of the registration population in any district and in any region.

“We didn’t meet the target so our board decided that we needed to go round the country again to try and do a mop-up across the country so we are able to meet our target of 80%,” he explained.

So far, the Authority has completed the mop-up exercise in 12 out of the 16 regions across the country.

Regions where the mop up exercise have been completed include Upper West, Upper East, Ashanti, Central, Western North, Western, Volta, and Oti.

“We are left with Greater Accra, Bono, Bono East, and Ahafo Regions. We are starting the Greater Accra on 24th August and end on the 8th of September and then start Bono on 27th September and end on the 8th of October,” Mr Palmdeti said.

Last week, the NIA released new dates for the mop-up exercise for the Ghana Card registration in the Greater Accra Region.

The exercise will now start on August 24, 2020, and run until September 8, 2020.

The mop-up registration exercise had initially been set for August 16 to August 29 in the Greater Accra Region.

The NIA has also revised the dates for the Bono, Bono East and Ahafo regions. The mop-up will now take place from August 27, 2020, to September 11, 2020.

The Bono, Bono East, and Ahafo regions had also been scheduled from August 20 to September 4.

The mop-up exercise is targeting persons aged 15 years and above who were unable to register for the Ghana Card.

The Authority has already conducted a mop-up registration exercise in the Ashanti, Volta and the Oti Regions from August 2 to August 16, 2020.