The NIA Headquarters, Accra
Many have thronged the various registration centers across the country for their Ghana card, pending the July 31, deadline, for the Subscriber Identification Module (SIM) re-registration exercise currently ongoing.
The Ministry of Communications and Digitalisation earlier this week announced at a presser that there will be no extension of time for SIM card registration.
“I, therefore, take this opportunity to urge all those who’ve not registered their SIM cards to do so as the deadline of 31 July 2022 will not be extended,” the sector Minister Ursula Owusu Ekuful said.
This means individuals who fail to register before August 1, will lose their SIMs.
With just five days to register, centers like El-walk sports stadium and the National Identification Authority (NIA) head office itself was filled to capacity.
Some applicants were patiently seated in long queues under tents while others were on their feet waiting for their turn.
An applicant who had just gone through the registration processes successfully still had fears of losing his SIM since July 31, is just around the corner.
“I’m done with my registration but even that I’m told to come next month to check if the card is ready. How is that possible, looking at the deadline for the SIM registration,” the applicant said.
The NIA centre currently offers a premium service at GH₵250.00 for the ID card to be issued instantly and GH₵30 for replacement.
The SIM registration exercise began on 1 October 2021 and was expected to end on 31 March 2022 but was later extended to 31 July 2022.
It was extended because over 7.5 million citizens and residents were yet to obtain their Ghana Cards to enable them to register their SIM cards.
But as of 17 March 2022, a total of 14,091,542 SIM cards had been linked to the Ghana Card.
Out of that, 10,348,532 had been bio-captured, and 99,445 were new SIM cards.