National Identification Authority (NIA) is opting for virtual training and pilot registration abroad to avoid losing staff to countries like Canada.
This shift comes as part of a broader strategy to extend its registration services to Ghanaians living overseas and improve the skills of its personnel.
Executive Secretary of the NIA, Professor Kenneth Attafuah, revealed this decision during a session with the Governance and Assurance Committee of Parliament on August 28, 2024.
He explained that the authority’s choice of virtual training stems from fears that employees sent to Euro-American countries might choose to remain there rather than return to Ghana.
“This was part of the rationale of the background that informed the framers of NIA law to require that it should be Ghanaian missionary staff who should undertake the registration of Ghanaians abroad. We don’t want to take people abroad and suffer casualties.
Abroad includes Togo, La Côte d’Ivoire, and Mali, and I doubt that we would be losing Ghanaians if we take them there. The risk is those places that we all know of the Euro-American countries,” he said.
Professor Kenneth emphasised, “Mr Chairman, we intend to be truthful to this country and to help this country to retain its human resource base.”
This move comes against a backdrop of increasing “brain drain,” where Ghanaians sent abroad for government-sponsored assignments or studies have opted to stay in those countries for better opportunities.
Recently, a video surfaced of a Ghanaian nurse en route to Barbados, expressing her intent to remain abroad, citing dissatisfaction with conditions back home.