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NIA officer arrested for registering Nigeriens

NIA officer arrested for registering Nigeriens

The Kaneshie Police have arrested a data input officer of the National Identification Authority (NIA) for allegedly registering two Nigeriens in the ongoing national identification registration exercise at Abossey Okai in Accra.

The 26-year-old suspect, Timothy Wuni, who was working at the Abossey Okai Central Mosque registration centre, was spotted by his supervisor in the process of registering the two Nigerien nationals onto the national identification system.

Briefing the Daily Graphic, the Public Relations Officer (PRO) of the Accra Regional Police Command, Deputy Superintendent of Police Mrs Effia Tenge, said Wuni was immediately accosted by his supervisor who later invited the police.

The two applicants, identified as Alhassan Abdul Samed and Abubakar Ruali, ran away when they were confronted by some officials of the NIA.

According to the PRO, during interrogation at the Kaneshie Police Station, Wuni admitted that he was given GH¢60 by a former employee of the NIA, identified only as Moro, to assist the two applicants to obtain the Ghana Card.

The police, Mrs Tenge said, retrieved two separate national identification forms with personal details of the two applicants.

The law

The NIA is mandated to register both citizens and non-citizens to create, maintain, provide and promote the use of national ID cards in order to advance economic, political and social activities in the country.

The differentiation features on the Ghana Card for Ghanaians and foreign nationals are the nationality code in the Personal Identification Number (PIN).

However, if a foreigner misrepresents himself or herself to the NIA during the registration process, the Ghana Card issued to that individual would bear the Ghana code.

That is an offence under section 40 (1) (a) of the National Identity Register Act, 2008 (Act 750) and is liable on summary conviction to a fine of not more than 250 penalty units or to a term of imprisonment of not more than two years or to both. A penalty unit is GH¢12.

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