Acting Executive Secretary of the National Identification Authority (NIA), Wisdom Yayra Korku Deku, has disclosed that three major government institutions owe the Authority a combined $457 million for biometric data services, threatening to disconnect access by October 1, 2025.
In a television interview on TV3’s Hot Issues program on Sunday, September 21, 2025, Deku revealed that the Ghana Revenue Authority (GRA) accounts for the largest portion of the debt at $377 million, while the National Health Insurance Scheme (NHIS) owes $58 million and the Passport Office owes $22 million.
The substantial debt reflects ongoing financial challenges within Ghana’s public sector, where inter-agency payment delays have become increasingly common. The NIA provides critical biometric verification services that these institutions require for daily operations, making the threatened disconnection particularly significant for public service delivery.
“In total NHIS $58 million, Passport is owing us $22 million and GRA it is $377 million. In all, a lot of people are owing us but very soon by October 1, 2025 I have given a directive that all those institutions should be disconnected,” Deku stated during the broadcast.
The NIA chief distinguished between government institutions and private sector clients, noting that commercial banks maintain consistent payments due to immediate operational consequences. Banks require continuous access to NIA’s biometric data for customer verification and daily transactions, creating natural incentives for prompt payment.
“The banks, they do pay because if you don’t pay, we will disconnect you and if we disconnect you, it means that the whole day you cannot perform any transaction,” he explained, highlighting the leverage that service dependency creates with private sector clients.
Deku also revealed that the government owes Margins ID Group, NIA’s technical partner in the Public-Private Partnership (PPP) for Ghana’s National Identification System, approximately $64-68 million. This debt has accumulated since the partnership’s inception in 2018 and affects the broader sustainability of Ghana’s national ID program, which relies on the partnership for system maintenance and card production.
The debt represents a significant portion of outstanding payments under the controversial $1.2 billion, 15-year contract for delivering 89 million Ghana Cards and related services. Under the arrangement, government bears $531 million of the total project cost while Margins Group’s Identity Management System (IMS) subsidiary covers the remaining $678 million.
The disclosure comes amid President John Dramani Mahama’s administration focus on fiscal discipline and improved public financial management. The substantial inter-agency debts raise questions about budget coordination and cash flow management within government operations.
Under the PPP arrangement, Margins ID Group provides technical expertise for biometric software development, identity management, and secure card production, while NIA maintains ownership of data and infrastructure. The Government Support Agreement reportedly requires monthly payments of $3.4 million to sustain operations.
When questioned about the contract’s effectiveness, Deku provided a nuanced assessment: “I will say yes and no because trust me if it was to be government that is funding this NIA project, by now NIA would have collapsed. Because for example, a switch gets burnt, we need to repair it urgently but you know government and our procurement processes, you need to go through a lot of procurement processes before you can buy it.”
He acknowledged that private sector involvement enables faster problem resolution but suggested the revenue model requires revision. Deku cited SIM card registration as an example where expected revenue streams failed to materialize because telecommunications companies were not utilizing NIA’s verification system as anticipated.
“What should have been done was to look at the revenue model. For example, the SIM Card registration was part of the revenue model but when we got there, they were not verifying from the NIA system so the money that was supposed to come to the NIA was not coming because they were not verifying the fingerprint but just the PIN codes so revenue was not coming to NIA,” he explained.
“As I speak now Government owes Margins as at now, we are around $64 to $68 million. As I said, we have the Government Support Agreement where it states that at the end of the month, if government is not able to raise the requirement that is the $3.4 million, government will top up,” Deku noted.
The October 1 disconnection deadline creates potential disruption for essential government services. GRA’s revenue collection processes, NHIS member verification, and passport application systems all depend heavily on NIA’s biometric verification capabilities for fraud prevention and identity confirmation.
Service interruption could affect millions of Ghanaians accessing government services, particularly given the integration of Ghana Card requirements across multiple public sector platforms. The timing coincides with ongoing efforts to expand digital government services under the broader digitization agenda.
The debt situation reflects broader challenges in Ghana’s public sector financial management, where ministries, departments, and agencies often struggle with delayed budget releases and cash flow constraints. These payment delays can cascade through interconnected government services.
Deku’s appointment as Acting Executive Secretary by President Mahama in January 2025 positioned him to address longstanding operational challenges within the NIA. His public disclosure of debt amounts represents an unprecedented level of transparency about inter-agency financial relationships.
The threatened service disconnection raises questions about legal frameworks governing inter-agency service provision and dispute resolution mechanisms within government. The effectiveness of such enforcement measures against government clients remains unclear given the interconnected nature of public sector operations.
Private sector observers note that consistent payment by banks demonstrates the effectiveness of immediate service consequences, suggesting that government institutions may require similar accountability mechanisms to ensure timely payments for inter-agency services.
