National Identification Authority (NIA) has disbursed long-delayed operational allowances to its staff, moving to resolve a labor dispute that brought operations at the national identity agency to a halt in recent weeks.
The agency confirmed Monday,August 4,that it has completed payment of a 20% Operational Support Allowance covering the period from January through July 2025. The benefit, the only supplement to staff base salaries, had been at the center of a nationwide strike by NIA employees who accused the Ministry of Finance of failing to provide a clear timeline for settling the arrears.
“All outstanding payments have now been cleared,” Williams Ampomah Emmanuel Darlas, the agency’s Head of Corporate Affairs, said at a press briefing in Accra. “The 20% Staff Operational Allowance is being paid, and the arrears from January to July have been resolved.”
The industrial action had raised concerns about disruptions to Ghana’s digital identification system, which underpins services from voter registration to financial transactions.
Mr. Darlas thanked NIA workers and stakeholders for what he described as their patience and resilience during the impasse. He added that despite the labor unrest, the agency’s core systems remained “robust and fully compliant with legal and data protection standards.”
The NIA, established to administer a secure, unified identity system for Ghana’s population, has faced repeated budgetary constraints in recent years, testing its ability to deliver services at scale. The resolution of the allowance issue comes amid mounting pressure on public institutions to meet obligations to employees amid broader fiscal tightening.
