NIA urges telcos to extend SIM card registration deadline

Erzuah says telcos are putting unnecessary pressure on Ghanaians

A lot of Ghanaians do not have GhanaCard - Cecilia Erzuah

A lot of people will lose SIM cards if registration is not extended – NIA Adim

The Administrator at the National Identification Authority (NIA), Cecilia Erzuah, has urged telecommunication companies to extend the March 31, 2022 deadline for the nationwide SIM card re-registration exercise.

According to her, the deadline is putting unnecessary pressure on Ghanaians and, if not extended, will make a lot of Ghanaians lose their SIM cards, myjoyonline.com reported.

Erzuah also explained that the extension is needed because many Ghanaians do not have the National Identification Card (GhanaCard), which is the primary document required for re-registration.


“Well, I said the SIM card registration, they should look at the time frame and extend it. A lot of people haven’t received their cards. There are people who did double, triple, fourth registration, and the system has their cards. All these cards have to be released for them. And we need to work on them at the backend.

“I think they [mobile network operators] should extend to the end of the year... Otherwise, all these people will lose their SIM,” she was quoted by myjoyonline.com.


The NIA administrator also explained that an extension is needed for foreigners who have now acquired Ghanaian citizenship to register their SIM cards.

“There are Ghanaians who used to be foreigners and have now entered the database as Ghanaians. When they go, MTN refuses to accept their PIN because of the preface; if you’re an Australian, it will start with AU. If you’re a Togolese, it starts with TG. All these people have not been able to register their cards,” she added.

The Director of Consumer and Corporate Affairs of NCA, Nana Defie Badu, has indicated that the NCA is considering the extension of SIM card re-registration.

Speaking in an interview on Class FM, Nana Defie Badu said the National Communications Authority (NCA) was actively monitoring the registration process and would change the deadline to ensure that all Ghanaians completed the process.


“We will continuously monitor the process. If it gets to the stage where we have to extend the deadline, we will because the communication access is very critical for our development for the use of all services in Ghana,” the director was quoted by citibusinessnews.com.