The National Identification Authority (NIA) has so far registered 5.9 million (5,907,536) people as at the end of 2019 in the ongoing nationwide mass registration exercise. Of this number, the authority has printed 5.1 million (5,167,994) cards. Data from the NIA reveals that 3.3 million (3,323,839) of the printed cards have been issued to registrants while persons who did not receive their cards can pick them up at designated places.
In the Ashanti Region, 761,263 cards have been printed while 552,796 cards have been issued to registrants.
Meanwhile, the NIA has extended the mass registration exercise throughout the Ashanti Region from January 10 to 16.
The extension is intended to restore the two registration days lost in December last year (27 and 28) because of the Christmas holidays.
A statement issued by Assistant Commissioner of Immigration (ACI) Mr Francis Palmdeti, the Head of Public Affairs of the NIA, said the extension also took into account the challenges it encountered in the first two days of the exercise in the region.
It said the move would also enable many prospective applicants in communities across the region who could not register because of the late arrival of some registration equipment to do so.
The mass registration exercise is expected to commence in the Central, Western and Western North regions immediately after the Ashanti Region mass registration ends.
In addition, it is the expectation of the NIA that registration on the 16th and final region in the Eastern Region starts by late February to mid-March this year.
Meanwhile, it said the leapfrogging technique, which has been in use since the start of the mass registration exercise in the Greater Accra Region on April 29, last year, should help ensure that every nook and cranny of the Ashanti Region is covered.
That system has been applied in the Volta, Oti, Northern, Savannah, North East, Upper West, Upper East, Bono, Bono East and Ahafo regions. Source:Fiilafmonline/CitiNews
