Government employees without valid National Identification Authority (NIA) details captured on the government payroll system risk having their salaries suspended from September 15, 2026, the Controller and Accountant-General’s Department (CAGD) has warned.
The directive forms part of preparations for a nationwide employee re-verification exercise aimed at ensuring that only properly verified workers remain on the government payroll.
In a statement issued on August 24, 2026, the CAGD directed Human Resource departments of Ministries, Departments and Agencies (MDAs) to ensure that all employees have their correct NIA numbers captured in the payroll system before the deadline.
The directive follows the rollout of an upgraded Employee Payslip (E-Payslip) system, which has exposed discrepancies between some employees’ NIA details on the payroll and records held by the NIA.
Others, according to the Department, have no NIA details captured on the payroll at all.
“Employees who do not have valid NIA details on the payroll system will have their salaries suspended with effect from 15th September, 2026,” Controller and Accountant-General Kwasi Agyei said in a separate notice.
What affected workers must do
The CAGD has instructed Human Resource departments to identify employees whose NIA details are either missing or incorrect and facilitate the necessary corrections.
For employees whose NIA numbers need to be corrected, Human Resource officers are required to submit the employee’s application for correction together with a cover letter from the head of the institution authorising the correction or insertion.
The documents must then be submitted to the CAGD for validation.
Human Resource officers have also been directed to check their institutions’ corporate email accounts for lists of employees flagged as having “No NIA” details and take immediate action.
The Department has further reminded employees that physical copies of NIA cards are no longer required for submission or inspection under Regulation 9 of the National Identity Register (Amended) Regulations, 2026 (L.I. 2523).
Instead, employees are expected to ensure that their NIA numbers and other identity details are accurately captured in the government payroll system through their respective Heads of Human Resources.
The CAGD is urging all government employees and institutions to comply with the directive before the September 15 deadline to avoid disruption to salary payments.
The move is expected to pave the way for the nationwide employee re-verification exercise and strengthen efforts to clean up the government payroll.
