Over 17 million Ghanaians registered from April 2019 to May 2024 — NIA

The National Identification Authority (NIA) says it has registered over 17 million Ghanaians since embarking on a revamp of the national identification system in 2019.

In response to allegations made against it by the opposition NDC Director of Elections Dr. Edward Omane Boamah, the NIA provided data showing that between 29th April 2019 and 16th May 2024, they registered 17,904,157 Ghanaians aged 15 years and above.

This represents a "substantial increase" from the 4,554,528 Ghanaians registered between July 2008 and January 2017, prior to the revamp, according to the NIA.

"In keeping with these purposes, NIA has, since February 2017, revamped the national identification system and, through a mix of mass registration, mop-up registration, special card issuance blitz, and special registration exercises (including institutional and household registration) succeeded in achieving the following milestones:

i. registered 17,904,157 Ghanaians aged 15 years and above between 29^(th) April 2019 and 16^(th) May 2024. This represents a substantial increase from the 4,554,528 registered between July 2008 and January 2017;"

The numbers indicate that the NIA has made significant progress in its mandate to register all Ghanaians since taking over responsibility for the national ID system and embarking on a revamp.

However, their work is not finished, as not all eligible Ghanaians have yet been registered, observes the authority.

The figures were released as the NIA sought to counter allegations from Omane Boamah regarding their recent Ghana Card registration drive in the border region of Pusiga that it is done to manipulate voter registration.

The agency flatly denied the opposition party official’s claims and maintained their operations have been fully above board.