The Executive Secretary of the National Identification Authority (NIA), Wisdom Kwaku Deku, says the Ghana Card has helped eliminate identity barriers and is now recognised for travel within the ECOWAS sub-region and accepted at more than 44,000 airports worldwide.
Speaking at the NIA’s 20th anniversary celebration, Mr. Deku disclosed that the Authority has processed over 200 million biometric verification requests and cleared a backlog of more than 640,000 Ghana Cards in 2025.
“Today, the NIA has registered over 19.4 million Ghanaians aged 15 years and above and issued more than 18.7 million cards. Additionally, over 229,000 foreigners have been enrolled. By insisting on free issuance at the inception of the National Identification System project, we dismantled economic barriers and eliminated identity silos across the country.
“The Ghana Card we hold today is recognised for travel within the ECOWAS subregion and is accepted at over 44,000 airports worldwide. Through the Identity Verification System platform, the IVSP, the NIA has processed over 200 million biometric verification requests without a single hitch.”
He further announced that the NIA has resumed nationwide registration for children between the ages of six and 14, with more than 90,000 children already registered in the Volta and Oti regions.
Mr. Deku added that proposed amendments currently before Parliament would make biometric verification mandatory for transactions to strengthen the integrity and security of Ghana’s national identification system.
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