Published: August 29, 2025
MONROVIA – The Liberian Investigator has gathered that over 75 National Identification Registry (NIR) workers on supplementary payroll will go without pay this month, even as their colleagues on the regular civil service roll continue to receive salaries amid the agency’s temporary shutdown.
The revelation has stirred deep anxiety among affected employees, who were hired on contract to support Liberia’s biometric ID rollout before the government suspended the program in June. With operations at a standstill, management has reportedly informed supplementary staff that salaries will not be processed because their work is now considered redundant.
“This is troubling for staffers on supplementary payroll,” one employee told The Liberian Investigator. “CSA [Civil Service Agency] employees will take pay, while the supplementary workers will struggle to get paid because the entity is ineffective now. This is a problem.”
Executive Director Andrew Peters summoned all supplementary workers to an urgent meeting scheduled for Thursday, August 28, at NIR headquarters in Congo Town where be briefed staff on the decision. He also promised to update the staff the outcome of a steering committee session tasked with deciding the future of the ID program.
A Workforce in Limbo
The workers affected are part of a supplementary scheme, contract employees recruited to accelerate ID card enrollment and data processing. Unlike their CSA counterparts, their paychecks are tied directly to NIR’s operational activities.
“Others will be getting paid for doing nothing, while those of us on the same category as employees will be sitting home without pay,” another worker said.
Employees say they have been left in the dark about when operations will resume or whether their contracts will be renewed. “From the steering committee meeting, the director promised to inform us when works will begin,” a staffer explained. “But currently, there’s no information.”
Suspension of National ID Rollout
The payroll dispute comes against the backdrop of Liberia’s faltering biometric ID program. In June, the government suspended both the issuance of new national identification cards and the enforcement of Executive Order No. 147, which had made the IDs mandatory for banking, SIM registration, and access to public services.
Authorities blamed “administrative reasons,” but the decision followed mounting complaints from citizens over broken equipment, long queues, and reports of bribery at registration centers. The Ministry of Information, working with the Central Bank and NIR, directed banks, telecom operators, and service providers to once again accept alternative IDs.
The suspension effectively derailed plans for a nationwide rollout that had been slated to take full effect by August 31, 2025.
Procurement Scandals and Bribery Allegations
Behind the suspension lies a deeper procurement scandal. The NIR had pushed through a $44 million biometric contract with Austrian firm OSD International, but the Public Procurement and Concessions Commission (PPCC) rejected the deal in July, citing violations of Liberia’s procurement law.
Investigations by The Liberian Investigator uncovered allegations that senior officials demanded illicit payments from OSD before the contract could proceed. When the company refused, the deal collapsed, leaving the project in disarray.
President Joseph Boakai has since appointed a 10-member steering committee, chaired by National Security Advisor Samuel Koffi Woods, to review the matter. But no new procurement plan has been unveiled, and the project remains stalled.
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