The National Identification Authority (NIA) is introducing a mobile application that will allow individuals and small businesses to verify identities with the Ghana Card.
According to the Authority, the new solution will bring biometric verification to persons and businesses who cannot meet the stringent requirements for onboarding onto its main verification platform.
The Director of Corporate Affairs at the NIA, Williams Ampomah Emmanuel Darlas, made this known at a press briefing in Accra on Monday, November 2, 2026.
He said the app is designed to give a straightforward “yes or no” answer to confirm the identity of a person.
Darlas noted that access to the NIA’s main verification system requires certification from the Data Protection Commission, a condition that many individuals and small enterprises struggle to satisfy.
He said the mobile app has therefore been created to bridge that gap and make verification services available to the larger population.
“Nobody has an excuse. We made sure every facet of the populace [is] served,” he stated, assuring the public that the use of the app will not expose users to identity fraud.
“With the mobile app, Ghanaians should be rest assured, the information there will not expose any Ghanaian to identity fraud,” he said.
“We are a tech institution, so we are very careful of what we introduce to the public,” he added.
The introduction of the app is in accordance with the National Identity Register (Amendment) Regulations, 2026 (L.I. 2523), which has expanded biometric verification obligations from institutions to include individuals engaged in transactions that require identity confirmation.
Under Regulations 9A and 9B of the L.I., individuals are mandated to authenticate the identities of persons they transact with through biometric verification.
Citing land transactions as an instance, Darlas said persons involved in the sale of land must verify the parties through the biometric system.
“You are required to do so through biometric verification,” he noted, adding that the application will be launched “very soon”.
Meanwhile, yesterday, November 2, 2026, marked the end of the grace period for compliance with the new regulations.
The NIA’s Biometric Verification Implementation Task Force will from today, Tuesday, November 3, begin inspections of institutions to ensure enforcement.
Institutions found to be photocopying, scanning or keeping copies of the Ghana Card, or relying solely on visual inspection to confirm identities, risk prosecution and fines ranging from 500 to 2,000 penalty units.
Such institutions also risk being removed from the NIA verification platform and surcharged up to 20 per cent of their annual verification fees.
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