NIA boss Attafuah: Ghana Card to replace passport soon
The NIA has begun talks with the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and the National Information Technology Agency (NITA) to get two different certifications to make the move a reality.
Ghanaians will soon be able to use their Ghana Cards as a passport for travelling across the globe, the National Identification Authority (NIA) has said.
The NIA has since begun talks with the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and the National Information Technology Agency (NITA) to get two different certifications to make the move a reality.
Prof Kenneth Attafuah, executive secretary of the NIA said: “We had a beautiful meeting with the Ministry of Foreign Affairs last Friday, we are talking about the modalities for getting two things done.”
“One is the onboarding of the passport, data integration with the passport office and also even how you get to use the Ghana Card to travel. I indicated that the Ghana Card is a powerful tool, it already has an electronic passport on it, which is valid for travel within West Africa.”
Prof Attafuah added: “The conversation we had with the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and NITA is to get the appropriate certification and International Standardisation Organisation Certification and the International Civil Aviation Organisation Certification (ICAO) so that the Ghana Card itself can be a valid passport for travel to Europe, the American countries.”
He also revealed that his outfit is set to begin with registration of Ghanaians abroad for the Ghana Card.
“There are about 55, more or less Ghanaian missions abroad, we are going to work with the missions to register through the Ministry to register Ghanaians abroad. We are going to do so using staff as we are required by the laws of these missions.
“So, we will train them, provide the equipment and they will carry on with the business of registering Ghanaians abroad,”
Source: asaaseradio.com
