State House, Freetown, Monday 10 May 2021
His Excellency President Dr Julius Maada Bio has taken part in and completed a symbolic national civil registration confirmation process which started on 6 May 2021 by the National Civil Registration Authority, NCRA.
Director General of the Authority, Mohammed Massaquoi, said that the exercise was to verify the information they had about individuals and to make corrections if there were any. He furthered that the process would give a comprehensive information about every citizen as well as foreigners living in the country, noting that it was also an opportunity for first timers to be registered.
He disclosed that the electronic registration process was a global model for governments to account for their people, a permanent civil register to guide governments on data of their citizens. He said the process was solely funded by the government of Sierra Leone, adding that the days for the process had also been extended from 8 to 10 days upon request from the civil society organisations and political parties.
The NCRA boss also stated that through the help of political parties and religious bodies their sensitisation campaigns around the exercise had been made successful.
He thanked President Bio for giving his time to them to commence the process, adding that it showed that the President was committed to the process.
In his brief statement to the team after he had gone through the process, the President thanked the NCRA and appealed to the public to be part of the process so as to help government to give account of its people.
“I am appealing to everyone to be part of the process because there will come a time when the identification card will be a requirement for one to acquire anything such a work, land and more in the country,” he stated.
