According to the NIA, the preparatory works for the expedited printing started on Wednesday, March 15, with the configuration of printers, print servers, and monitors as well as the deployment of additional staff from its regional and district offices to augment staff capacity at the head office while the main printing works commenced on Saturday.

Printing of the cards was suspended following financial constraints faced by the NIA.

In view of this, more than 3.5 million cards were locked up in a bonded warehouse.

A statement issued by the NIA on March 21, stated, “the National Identification Authority wishes to inform the general public that on Saturday, 18th March 2023, it commenced the expedited printing of the backlog of 541,529 records accumulated since July 2022. The backlog arose from a shortage of blank cards due to financial challenges”.

The NIA noted that the commencement of the printing of cards follows payments of GH?100 million by government to CalBank PLC.

The printing of the blank cards is expected to last for 11 days, ending on March 29.

“The commencement of the expedited printing follows the payment of GH?100 million by Government of Ghana (GoG) to CalBank PLC, which then caused the release of a quantity of blank cards to NIA on Tuesday 14th March 2023. The printing of the blank cards is expected to last for 11 days, ending on 29th March 2023,” NIA emphasised in its statement.

The NIA assured to make public announcements and make the cards available at its regional and district offices across the country to be collected by persons who registered since July 2022.

NIA assured, “at the end of the exercise, NIA will make the cards available at its Regional and District Offices nationwide and announce to the public when the persons who registered for the cards since July 2022 should go to their respective NIA offices for the cards to be issued to them”.

Read below the full statement by NIA