Executive secretary of the National Identification Authority (NIA), Professor Kenneth Attafuah, has described the Ghana Card as a powerful tool that could be used for any desired thing including travels in the country and beyond.
Professor Attafuah disclosed that Ghanaians will soon use the Ghana Card as their passports for West African and foreign travels.
He noted that the Ghana Card already has an electronic passport on it which is valid for West African travels.
He said discussions have been held with the Foreign Affairs Ministry and the National Information Technology Agency (NITA) concerning this new development.
Professor Attafuah 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.”
“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.”
Meanwhile, the National Identification Authority will register Ghanaians living abroad for the Ghana Card once this dream comes to fruition.
He said this on Asaase Breakfast Show on Monday, July 12, 2021.
This follows the successful merging of the Social Security and National Insurance Trust (SSNIT) database with the National Identification Authority (NIA) on June 28, 2021.
