Sunyani, Jan. 14, GNA – The Sunyani District office of the National Identification Authority (NIA) issued 3,624 identification cards to applicants as of December 2021, Mr Daniel Agyei Kyeremeh, the District Registration Officer has said.
He said as at January 13, 2022, the District had 10,118 cards, and assured most of the applicants would receive their cards to meet the nationwide SIM card registration exercise deadline of March 31.
In an interview with the Ghana News Agency (GNA) in Sunyani, Mr Kyeremeh advised applicants whose cards were already with the Authority and potential ones to remain calm saying, the Authority would work hard to ensure everybody had the NIA card to register their SIMs.
“We don’t want anybody to be denied the SIM registration, and if the need be we would discuss with relevant institutions for the extension of the SIM registration, so there is no cause for alarm”, he said.
Mr Kyeremeh indicated the district office had had two additional contract staff to support in the registration and issuance of the cards, saying “with these two additional staff are able to issue 120 cards on a daily basis”.
He said the office had also provided special opportunities for aged, people with disability and essential service workers to register and obtain their cards without going through the normal processes.
Meanwhile, public demand for the NIA card keeps increasing, as applicants crowd the various registration offices of the NIA in the Sunyani Municipality.
During a visit around 0600 hours, GNA sighted hundreds of anxious applicants in long queues at the District office, located at the premises of the Ghana Revenue (GRA), as well as other registration centers at premises of the Social Security and National Insurance Trust (SSNIT) and the Public Works Department (PWD).
Many of the applicants, including students and aged women who were, however, sighted were patiently waiting in queues with some sitting on benches and chairs, though the NIA offices had not opened.
Some of them told the GNA they arrived at 0400 hours to meet other applicants who had already formed queues saying they needed the cards to enable them to register their SIM cards.
“But I don’t understand why we can’t use our passport to register our SIM card. Is it not the same passport they used to register us for the NIA. So what is happening in this country”, Mr Kwasi Agyemang, a United States-based Ghanaian applicant stated.
GNA