Ms Francisca Mensah, the officer-in-charge of the Tema Central Office of the National Identification Authority (NIA), says her outfit is liaising with the Tema Metropolitan Education Directorate towards enrolling school children onto the Ghana Card.
Ms. Mensah said she had already contacted the Education Office to plan for the commencement of the exercise, which would see children aged six to 14 go through the process of acquiring the National Identification Card, popularly known as the Ghana Card.
She said this when interacting with assembly members of the Tema Metropolitan Assembly (TMA) during a general assembly meeting.
She indicated they were furnished with the list of all public and private basic schools in the Tema Metropolis to facilitate the process.
She said the exercise would be carried out in the schools for free, stating Ghana Card was free, explaining however that it was only at the premier centre at the NIA head office at Shiashi that payment was done for special service.
Ms Mensah stated that with premier service, new applications are done at GHs310, while 420 are charged for premier replacement service.
She added that people who might have lost their card and want a normal replacement service will do so at GH¢125, while GH¢60 is charged for changes to the card.
Answering questions on the issuance of cards to clients, she disclosed that there is a backlog of 1600 cards to be printed for her office (Tema Central), adding that the last time their cards were printed was in January 2024.
She appealed to the TMA to help provide office space for the NIA in the Tema Central area, noting that their current location at the Nicholas Plaza in Tema East makes it difficult for them to properly serve their target clients.
She said even though Tema East has its office at the Longroom at the Tema Port, residents in that area prefer to use the Tema Central office due to its proximity to them, to the disadvantage of Tema Central residents.
GNA
LS/KOA/LAA
3 July 2024
