National Identification Authority (NIA) has issued a strong warning to the public against bribing officers undertaking a mass registration exercise in the three regions in the north of Ghana.

The warning comes in the wake of reports that some residents were forced to pay unauthorised fees before being registered.

Member of Parliament (MP) for Tamale North, Alhassan Dahamani, confirmed to Joy News he received reports that some residents paid money to NIA officials before being registered during the just ended National ID card registration exercise in the Northern Region.

But the Authority has reminded the public that paying money to officials in order to be registered is a criminal offence.

Registration for National ID cards ended in the Northern Region on Saturday July 13, but residents have complained the ten day period used for the exercise was too short.

Mr Alhassan Dahamani said although NIA officials have denied the allegations, he is certain that due to the short duration of the exercise, those who could not register thought they would have to pay in order to get registered after the deadline.

Public Affairs Director of the NIA, Bertha Dzeble, said the police should investigate the alleged bribe taking by the NIA officials. She added that those who pay money to a registration officer themselves commit an offence.

She has also called on the general public to report any suspicion of bribery or demands for money before registration to the police.

Meanwhile, the NIA would have to re-register scores of people in the southern part of the country whose already captured data cannot be processed due to technical difficulties.

Some of the data which were collected could not be processed because, according to Bertha Dzeble, they did not meet approved standards.

Also, according to Joy News' Mannaseh Awuni Azure, out of the over 14 million data collected by the NIA, only 3 million ID cards have been printed and only 700 cards have been distributed.

The remainder of the cards has been locked due to financial constraints.