A report from the National Demographic and Health Survey (NDHS) indicates that birth registration in Adamawa is the lowest in the north-eastern part of the country.
It notes that only 17 per cent of under one and four per cent of under five years registered in the region in 2015.
Expressing concern about the low rate of birth attendance generally in the country, observers say there must be pragmatic measures aimed at improving birth registration.
They note that birth registration is one of the four major sources of demographic data for planning process which should be on a continuous, permanent and compulsory recording.
But Mr Innocent Mishikir, the Head of Vital Registration in the National Population Commission (NPC) office in Yola, said lack of public awareness on the importance of the registration had been one of the major challenges in Adamawa.
He explained that from January 2016 to August 2016, the commission registered only 87, 748 children comprising 45, 858 males and 41, 890 females.
“Other challenges include inadequate registration centres and workforce; Adamawa has only 79 registration centres and birth registrars across its 21 local government areas which are grossly inadequate to cover the 226 wards in the state.
“The state is now recovering from Boko Haram insurgency which seriously affected local governments in northern part of the state.
“As the state plans for resettlement and rehabilitation of the returnees, one of the issues being addressed is that of birth registration,’’ he said.
The Adamawa Ministry of Health and the Primary Healthcare Development Agency has, therefore, planned to sensitise the residents of the state to the importance of birth registration.
The agency, in collaboration with European Union (EU) and United Nations Children’s Fund (UNICEF), had recently conducted a one week massive birth registration advocacy in the state.
Inaugurating the campaign, Mr David Garnvwa, the Federal Commissioner of NPC, underscored the importance of birth registration which he described as a right.
“Civic registration is a continuous and compulsory recording of the occurrence and characteristic of vital events, such as birth, death, stillbirth and marriages, among others.
“It is therefore the right of every child to be registered without any discrimination as specified in Article 7 of the convention on the Right of children,’’ Garnvwa said.
Garnvwa said 2,136 sub registrars were engaged to assist the only 79 registrars in Adamawa in the going from house to house in the 226 wards of the state for the massive registration.
He advised the state government to address the problem of shortage of staff by seconding local government staff to NPC to serve as sub-registrars on a permanent basis.
“We wish to request the governor to consider, approve and direct the local governments to second to the commission at least one sub-registrar per ward who will be trained by NPC to work with our staff,’’ he requested.
“So far, with funding support from EU through UNICEF, more than 300 health workers have been trained on birth registration services in the various health facilities in the state,’’ he observed.
Dr Abdulai Kaikai, Chief of Bauchi Zone Field Officer of UNICEF, who lauded the massive birth registration campaign, also solicited the cooperation of all stakeholders in achieving effective birth registration and its sustainability.
He said UNICEF, in collaboration with NPC and Adamawa Primary Healthcare Agency, had further trained 300 Community Resource Persons on birth registration in insurgency affected local government areas of the state such as Madagali, Michika, Mubi North, Mubi South and Maiha.
“With the support of all stakeholders, all unregistered children in Adamawa will be registered and will obtain the birth registration certificate issued by NPC to ensure that every child has an identity as a Nigerian.
“The birth registration certificate issued by NPC also provides legal, documentary evidence of the child’s existence; age, parentage, birth place and nationality.
“This will further enable the government plan for children and implement basic social services such as health, education, infrastructure and employments for the future well-being of these children,’’ Kaikai explained.
To further boost the birth registration exercise in Adamawa, the state has benefitted from another EU/UNICEF intervention in the use of automatic device by birth registrars for efficiency.
Speaking on the pilot project, Dr Babagana Wakili, the Director Vital Registration Department at the NPC headquarters in Abuja, said that the training was to boost birth registration exercise in Adamawa and Kebbi selected for the pilot project.
He explained that Adamawa and Kebbi were selected for the pilot project in view of the states’ poor record in birth registration.
He said the success of the pilot project in Adamawa and Kebbi would facilitate the expansion of the programme to other states.
“We use to do birth registration manually, using paper but now in collaboration with UNICEF, we want to automate it and make the registration easier.
“This automated approach will make the registration more efficient and credible. Adamawa and Kebbi were selected because they have low registration and by building the capacity of the registrars and providing them with the hand held devices for data capturing, things would improve,’’ Wakili said.
Mrs Sharon Oladeji, child protection specialist with UNICEF, who spoke on the importance of addressing gaps in birth registration in Adamawa state, noted that tackling the problem would play a vital role in the state’s development.
“It will give the state the ability to plan, implement, monitor, evaluate and report on the impact of its social and economic policies and ensure that resources are allocated to where they are really needed,’’ she said.
In addition to sensitisation programme on boosting the public attitude to birth registration, media jingles by local radio stations in the state are ongoing to enlighten parents and guardians on the importance of birth registration.
Hajiya Aishatu Abubakar, the Director of NPC in Adamawa, described the enlightenment exercise as effective as shown by the turn out of parents to register their children.
Stakeholders, therefore, solicit supports, particularly from the state government and key stakeholders, to sustain the efforts of NPC and UNICEF in ensuring that Adamawa children are given rights to existence and identity.
…Uba is of News Agency of Nigeria (NAN).
