Ghana to make national ID a multipurpose card for seamless services

Ghana’s National Identification Authority (NIA) says it plans to expand use cases of the national ID – the Ghana Card – in order to drive financial inclusion and ensure the seamless delivery of a wide range of government services.

The acting CEO of the ID authority, Yayra Koku said recently in a post on X that part of the plan is to link the biometric ID card with mobile money services and bank accounts in line with the original design of the card.

He said as acting NIA CEO, he will work to advance the vision of President John Mahama of making the Ghana Card a multipurpose card to render access to digital services easier and more convenient for Ghanaian citizens.

“Imagine linking your Ghana Card to your MoMo [mobile money] and bank accounts so you can pay for goods and services without knowing the vendor’s phone number or MoMo details. Imagine using your Ghana Card as your driver’s license, eliminating the need to visit the DVLA for fingerprints—just present your card, and the integrated system will handle the rest,” Koku wrote in the post.

“Consider applying for a passport from the comfort of your home with your Ghana Card, then walking in to collect it or having it delivered via GhanaPost. Think of linking your Ghana Card to toll booth apps for seamless payments as you pass through, or using it to access countless services effortlessly,” he added.

He mentioned that these are a few of many instances in which the Ghana Card can be made more useful for citizens, adding that their vision is also to make it easier for people to get replacement Ghana Cards.

“Imagine your card goes missing, but you simply walk into a booth, pay, provide your fingerprint and your replacement card is printed on the spot without having to visit the NIA office and wait in a long queue,” Koku noted.

“This and much more is what NIA envisions for the future in collaboration with partners and stakeholders. Together, we are creating a smarter, more convenient Ghana.”

In another X post on February 8, Koku said that linking the Ghana Card with mobile money and banking services is not entirely new as the card was originally designed with those functionalities. He said if activated, it can be used both as a debit and prepaid card for easy payments.

Biometrics a must for Ghana Card verification

Meanwhile, the NIA has warned that due to the increasing nature of identity theft, any verification using the Ghana Card must be done with biometrics.

In a policy advisory issued early this month, the NIA said it had come to its attention that some institutions rely on non-biometric identity verification services such as lookup lists and visual (ocular) inspection of the Ghana Card to verify identities of persons they transact business with.

“These methods do not guarantee the accuracy of an individual’s identity as recorded in the National Identity Register,” the body said.

“To ensure the highest standards of security, fraud prevention, mitigate risks associated with non-biometric verification methods, and safeguard the credibility of identity verification in compliance with L.I. 2111, the NIA strongly advises all institutions conducting identity verification to rely on biometric authentication in their identity verification processes by directly cross-checking against the National Identity Register.”

It adds: “The NIA has established a robust, state-of-the-art Identity Verification System Platform (IVSP) designed to enable the biometric verification of individuals who possess Ghana Cards against the National Identity Register. This will improve accuracy, security, and public confidence in identity verification. By using the IVSP, NIA guarantees that output data given to any institution is time-stamped, accurate, and auditable.”

More than 17 million Ghanaians have the Ghana Card and the government is also working to issue the cards to children.

Article Topics

Africa  |  biometrics  |  digital ID  |  financial inclusion  |  Ghana  |  Ghana Card  |  government services  |  identity verification  |  national ID  |  National Identification Authority (NIA)