NIA to deploy satellite connectivity for Ghana Card

The National Identification Authority (NIA) is to beef up connectivity with satellite technology for uninterrupted registration of Ghanaians for Ghana Card, starting July 22 in the Volta Region.

Professor Kenneth Agyeman Attafuah, Executive Secretary of the Authority announced this in Ho, during a media engagement ahead of the one month exercise.

He said the technical glitches, which emanated from unreliable internet connectivity during the pilot and mass registration exercises in the Greater Accra Region was being addressed and expected a far more improvement of the Volta exercise.

The NIA boss said the his outfit was “putting resources” into the exercise to make it smooth, and working hard to clear the backlog of 250,000 cards yet to be printed before the Volta exercise starts.

Prof. Attafuah said all things being equal the Volta registration exercise would deliver cards instantly and called on the support of all.

He said the Ghana Card carrying a size of 140 kilobyte chip with capacity for 14 applets could be adopted by the National Health Insurance Authority (NHIA), Social Security and National Insurance Trust (SSNIT), Driver and Vehicle Licensing Authority (DVLA), the Bank of Ghana (BOG) and all other state identification agencies for data collection and storage.

The Executive Secretary said harmonising all identity cards in circulation could save the card issuing agencies about $30 million per year for the next 15 years ($450 Million) for production and maintenance.

He said the NIA would issue three types of cards namely, the dual interface smart card for Ghanaians 15 years and above; the 2D Barcode card for Ghanaians 14 years and below and the foreigner identification and management system cards.

Prof. Attafuah said the month long registration exercise was open to only Ghanaians with the next phase taking care of under 15 years and foreigners indicating that foreigners’ registration would attract $120 per applicant.

Some features of the redesigned card include aluminum watermark, dual interface chip module, tactile impression, ultra violet watermark, UV printing, ECOWAS logo and card access number with the backside carrying tracking number, E-passport and contactless symbols as well as machine readable zone (MRZ).

It has protection for identity theft and help in delivery of public services and benefits, provision of a range of methods for checking and verifying identities and convenience and secure access to facilities.

The Ghana Card is said to be a game-changer for rapid social and economic development and participation in e-commerce, e-governance, e-health and related services.

There is also a three international IDs of the card that allows citizens to verify identification internationally and access other platforms to perform electronic transactions.