Audio Attachment:Head of Public Affairs at the National Identification Authority (NIA), Bertha Dzeble, assures Ghanaians that everyone will be captured in the NIA data when the exercise officially concludes in July 0f 2010. |
The Head of Public Affairs at the National Identification Authority (NIA), Bertha Dzeble has assured Ghanaians that the Authority will soon establish offices in all ten regions of the country to register all those who in one way or the other, failed to be captured in the on-going registration exercise.
According to Bertha Dzeble, there is a growing perception by some section of the public that when the registration exercise officially concludes in July 2010, there will be no further chance to be registered. She has therefore advised the general public, especially the people of the Greater Accra Region, to avoid moving from one zone to the other to take part in the exercise, to avoid putting pressure on registration officers.
�We will establish our district offices and people can, on daily basis, just like the Birth and Death Registry, go and get registered. So it is not as if, maybe, if you don�t participate now, you are denied registration forever,� she stated.
She told Peace FM on �Kokrokoo� despite the tiring nature of collecting the data, the support from the public has been great and the response is positive. According to her, the exercise currently going on in the Greater Accra Region has witnessed long queues and delays, leading some people to apportion blame at the doorstep of the NIA, whereas it is not.
�There are a number of people we can register a day with the machine, and we cannot exceed it. Also it takes quite some time for people who are filling the forms to get the correct information. We don�t rush them. It is actually delaying the process and creating some difficulty for us, so it takes a long time to process one person at a centre,� she stated.
Madam Dzeble said that after the creation of the national database, �many institutions both government and private, will be using it for the authentication and verification of personal data, and also use it to formulate data for this country to run effectively and develop faster than we have it in the past.�
"Purpose of Exercise"
The establishment of the National Identification Authority (NIA) by the government is to create a national data to help implement the National Identification system. The NIA is also to serve as a national register to collect and provide accurate and comprehensive information on the population to facilitate and support the social, economic and political development of the country.
The NIA registration exercise has so far been completed in four regions: the Central, Eastern, Western and Volta Regions, with the Greater Accra Region currently having its exercise ongoing in different zones.
The Greater Accra Region has been divided into four zones, says the NIA Public Affairs Director.
�We are doing 10 days in each zone. The 2nd is ongoing, then in January we shall move to the 3rd zone; then in February we move to the 4th. Hopefully therefore, by February, 2010 we shall end the exercise in the Greater Accra Region�we are not expecting a 100% registration but by July, 2010 the whole exercise will end,� she added.
Source: Alex Ofei/peacefmonline.com/Ghana
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