Govt releases GH¢4 million to NIA to resume mass registration

She indicated that the authority would require over GH¢6.8 million to ensure a smooth and uninterrupted exercise in the three regions of the north.

“The government has assured us that it would provide the remaining funding and so we are poised to get the exercise going,” she stated.

Ms Dzeble said the authority was mobilising its logistics and personnel to kick-start the registration exercise in the Northern Region before proceeding to the two other regions.

She said the Northern Region posed a challenge because of its size and, therefore, the region had been divided into three zones to be covered in three phases.

Phase one will cover Nanumba North and South, Central and East Gonja, Yendi and Zabzugu. Phase two will cover Gushiegu, Saboba, Chereponi, Karaga, Nanton, Savelugu, Bunkpurugu/Yunyoo and East and West Mamprusi.

The third phase will involve the Tamale, Bole, Sawla/Tuna/Kalba, West Gonja, Tolon and Kumbungu.

She said whilst the Upper East would be covered in two phases, the Upper West would be covered at a go.

She, however, did not mention a specific date for the commencement of the exercise, but hinted that the authority was considering early April.

The NIA completed the mass registration exercise in seven regions and commenced the production and issuance of the I.D. cards.

According to Ms Dzeble, the NIA had distributed over 700,000 I.D. cards to Ghanaian and non-Ghanaian citizens in the Greater Accra Region, but had to halt the exercise due to lack of funds.

“We will continue the mass distribution of the I.D cards when we receive funding from government,” she hinted, adding that the NIA had already printed I.D. cards for those in the Ashanti Region.

“We are still processing data for the other regions where the registration had taken place,” Ms Dzeble added.

The NIA, she noted, was hoping to capture as many Ghanaians as possible and therefore urged the media to give adequate publicity to the pending exercise.

“We know we cannot capture the entire population, but we want to get as many Ghanaians to create the database,” she stated.

She said the NIA was only registering persons who were six years and above and entreated people to come along with documents such as birth certificates, voter’s identity cards and passports for verification of information  they would provide.

Story by Nurudeen Salifu