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President Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo-Addo has called on all stakeholders in the ongoing national identification exercise to ensure that the integrity, security and confidentiality of the data collected are not compromised.

He said it was of utmost essence that information gathered from the exercise be made available only to persons or institutions authorised by law to access the data, and use the record only for the purposes for which it was collected, adding that the marked deadline for the completion of the registration exercise must be respected.

The National Identification Authority (NIA) has, as at Wednesday, January 8, 2020, registered some 6.5 million Ghanaians.

The President made the call when he addressed the management and staff of the Intelligent Card Production Systems Limited (ICPS), the company collaborating with the National Identification Authority to implement the national identification project, after a tour of its facility off the Spintex Road in Accra.

ICPS, responsible for the printing the national identification cards, known as the Ghana Card, is the manufacturing arm of the Margins Group ID Group Company Limited.

It is an ISO 9001-2015 certified secured documents and card manufacturing facility with a production capacity of over 200 million secured documents and cards per year.

The facility is purposely built for international certifications such as ISO, Europay-MasterCard-Visa (EMV), SAS (GSM) and Intergraph, and offers a full range of products, including the manufacture of secured plastic cards (plain, magnetic stripe, smart-contact and contactless, dual interface), milling and embedding of modules on cards, tokens & documents, scratch cards and various labels, as well as fulfilment services.

President Akufo-Addo told the gathering that it was gratifying that after years of stagnation, the national identification project was off the ground. The project was launched by government in September 2017 and commenced in April 2018.

He reiterated the importance of the national identification project, adding that, “The benefits of having the Ghana Card cannot only include the establishment to improve one's own identity, or citizenship, but they also aid cardholders in the transaction of a wide range of financial, banking and insurance activities, and facilitate access to social services, communications and education and healthcare sectors,” President Akufo-Addo indicated.

He said the national ID would assist in the formalisation of the economy and lead to the acceleration of economic growth, saying, “The advantages of the card are thus extensive... The future of Ghana's identity management systems is bright.”

The President commended the ICPS for “doing important work for the growth and development of our country’’.

“For me, what excites me about ICPS is that it is a company with majority Ghanaian ownership, possessing the ability to produce these cards that would deliver integrated services to all Ghanaians.

“This is further testimony of the importance of the strong functioning of the private sector,” he said, reiterating that government was fully committed to supporting and enhancing the capacity of Ghanaian companies and businesses to become giants in their respective areas of operation.’’

The President continued: “We are determined to bring prosperity to our people by working closely with the private sector and indeed companies like ICPS…It is the private sector that can create the needed jobs for the people of our county, and I am confident that with the right incentives, the Ghanaian private sector would rise to the challenge as other private sectors in other countries have done.

“My visit here today has reinforced my conviction that it can be done; you are setting an excellent example of what is possible. I am confident the best days of ICPS and indeed Ghana lies ahead,” he stated.

Mr Moses Baiden, CEO of Margins Group, assured the President that the integrity of the data being collected in the national identification project cannot be compromised, adding that the project would be delivered on schedule.

He was confident that the Ghana Card will help complement efforts at achieving a Ghana beyond aid by improving transparency and service delivery in the country.

“We are committed to supporting your government to achieve its vision of a Ghana beyond Aid.”