NIA needs urgent $65m to avoid total project shutdown, creditors negotiate $117m debt
The National Identification Authority (NIA) is facing a major financial crisis that threatens to derail its flagship Ghana Card project, a crucial component of the government’s efforts to formalize the economy and bring more Ghanaians into the formal financial sector.
According to a recent reports in the media, the NIA is indebted to its suppliers and bankers to the tune of $117 million, a sum that has been negotiated down to a minimum of $65 million that needs to be paid urgently in order to prevent a total project shutdown.
The debt, which dates back to 2021, has put the NIA in technical default, with the banks and other creditors refusing to extend any further credit to finance the project. The private partner has defaulted on its loan payments to the banks, which have responded by refusing to extend further credit until the debts are cleared. This has left the NIA in a precarious situation, with limited options for raising the funds it needs to keep the project going.
The Ghana Card project is a critical initiative that aims to provide all Ghanaians with a unique identification number that will serve as a key to accessing a range of government services, as well as banking and financial services.
The project is expected to generate significant revenue for the government, covering the future costs of the NIA and paying off the debt owed to the private investors at a post-tax rate of 17%.
Despite the potential benefits of the project, the NIA is struggling to keep it on track due to the debt crisis. As of February 19, 2023, the NIA had registered 17.3 million individuals, printed 16.7 million cards, and issued 16 million cards, leaving 2.5 million people still to be registered.
The NIA estimates that it needs 9.7 million blank cards to cover the remaining population, including 6.5 million for children aged 6 to 14 and 596,000 for Ghanaians in the diaspora.
Unfortunately, the NIA is currently unable to print the cards it needs to complete the project due to financial constraints. According to Professor Ken Attafuah, the Executive Secretary of NIA, the Authority owes its partners, such as the Identity Management System Limited, a considerable amount of money, and as a result, over 3.5 million stocks of blank cards are locked up in a bonded warehouse, inaccessible to the NIA due to financial difficulties.
Professor Attafuah remains optimistic that the NIA will be able to print and issue all outstanding cards when the government clears the debt owed to its partners. He notes that the NIA has the capacity to print the cards, with over a thousand functional printers and trained professionals available to do the work. With 500 printers, the NIA can print up to 50,000 cards a day, he said.
The Ghana Card project is being delivered through a Public Private Partnership (PPP) arrangement between the NIA and Identity Management Systems II Ltd, a private partner that has invested heavily in the project. The PPP model is meant to ensure that the project is delivered efficiently and cost-effectively, with the private partner taking on some of the financial risk.
However, the current debt crisis facing the NIA highlights the risks inherent in PPP projects, particularly in emerging markets where there may be limited experience in managing such partnerships. In Ghana, the government has been pursuing a number of ambitious PPP projects in recent years, including the construction of new roads, bridges, and other infrastructure.
While these projects hold the promise of spurring economic growth and development, they also carry significant financial risks, particularly in cases where the private partner is not able to meet its financial obligations.
