Hundreds of Ghanaians have been left stranded at various National Identification Authority (NIA) centres across the country in an attempt to get their cards replaced or updated.
This comes after the NIA adjusted the registration fees effective May 1, 2024.
The adjustment, which was announced in April this year, is in line with the provisions of the Fees and Charges (Miscellaneous Provision Regulations, 2023) (L.I. 2481).
During Republic Press’s visit to various Accra centres, it was discovered that many applicants were waiting to update their cards, even though the NIA had informed them that the service would not be available until Thursday, May 2, 2024.
In an interview with some disgruntled applicants, they stated that the NIA’s decision to turn them away is an attempt to extort money from them.
“I am here to update my Ghana card. I was here yesterday and they asked me to go and come back today but when I got here as early as 7: 30am, I was informed my card could be updated rather on May 2, which is going to affect me because I will have to pay more because of the adjustment,” one applicant said.
“I may not be able to do the update because I cannot pay the new fee, which is GHS310 because i do not have money,” he added.
Another applicant who was there for replacement said, “We were here yesterday, so they could have told us not to come, but we came here this morning to find out they couldn’t do it for us. All they’re saying is that orders from headquarters told them not to provide any service to people who came for updates and replacements.
Meanwhile, all attempts to obtain a response from the NIA were unsuccessful.
