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Tag: birth registration

  • Birth registration is child’s legal proof of identity – First Lady

    Birth registration is child’s legal proof of identity – First Lady

    …launches initiative to boost birth registration in Nigeria

    First Lady Oluremi Tinubu has emphasised the pivotal role of a robust and efficient civil registration system in national development and governance.

    The First Lady reiterated on Thursday during the launch of the UNICEF/RHI Commemorative Birth Certificate for 2024, which was facilitated through her Renewed Hope Initiative (RHI), in partnership with the National Population Commission (NPC) and the United Nations Children’s Fund (UNICEF).

    At the event, which was held at the State House Conference Centre, Abuja, Mrs Tinubu stressed the critical importance of birth registration for Nigerian children.

    The launch of the UNICEF/RHI Commemorative Birth Certificate for 2024 is a significant step towards ensuring that every Nigerian child is counted, considered, and cared for, as the country strives to achieve the Sustainable Development Goal 16.9.2 – “a legal identity for all, including birth registration”.

    “It is important to note that a robust and efficient civil registration system is pivotal to our development and governance.

    “This ensures that every live birth is recorded, and forms the basis for policy, planning, and service delivery that meets the needs of all Nigerians. This is more than an administrative task; it provides the foundation for our social security”, she said.

    She highlighted the benefits accruable to any society that prioritizes birth registration which includes proper and adequate planning by the government.

    “Our children, the treasure of our nation, should be guaranteed their rights and privileges from the onset. A well-functioning civil registration and vital statistics safeguard these rights and ensure that no violation goes unnoticed.

    “To all parents, birth registration is very vital. It is the child’s legal proof of identity, as a Nigerian, without which children will not be fully recognised by the Government. They could miss out on the government’s provision of healthcare, education, and other social amenities.

    “Without a birth certificate, children will be unable to prove their age and this puts them at a great disadvantage. I, therefore, encourage all parents to register the birth of their children and obtain authentic birth certificates recognised by the government”, the First Lady said.

    The First Lady commended UNICEF for its leadership and commitment to supporting the government’s efforts to advance birth registrations and issuance of birth certificates to children.

    She also congratulated the National Population Commission, Federal Ministry of Health and Social Welfare, National Identity Management Commission, and private sector partner, Banksforte Technologies Limited, for their initiative to issue a national identification number to every child at birth, starting in 2024.

    President of the Senate, Godswill Akpabio, described the initiative as a clarion call for collective action, urging all Nigerians to support what he called a vital cause.

    Akpabio praised the First Lady for her leadership and dedication to improving the welfare of children in Nigeria.

    Represented by the Senate Committee Chairman on National Population, Abdul Ningi, the President of the Senate highlighted that birth registration is the first official acknowledgement of a child’s existence by the state, granting them access to essential services such as education and healthcare.

    Akpabio called on all stakeholders, including government agencies, civil society, and community leaders, to unite in making the initiative a success.

    In closing, he urged everyone to embrace their shared responsibility in fostering a future where every Nigerian child is recognized and valued, ensuring they have the opportunity to thrive.

    NPC chairman, Nasir Kwarra, highlighted that the commemorative event represents a significant step forward in the government’s efforts to offer Nigerian children their first foundational identity, which will grant them access to essential government services such as education and healthcare.

    Also speaking at the ceremony, the Managing Director of Barnksforte Technologies Limited, the technical partner to the National Population Commission, Mr Adedayo Bankoke, stressed the vital role of establishing a foundational identity and ensuring the security of data for every child.

    UNICEF Representative Cristian Munduate highlighted the government’s commitment to expanding birth registration services, particularly in remote and underserved communities.

    She noted the successful rollout of the digital Electronic Civil Registration and Vital Statistics (eCRVS) system, which has improved registration rates and established a foundation for children’s rights and services.

    She recalled that in 2023, the government, with UNICEF’s support, set an ambitious goal to register over 11.5 million children under five. While this achievement is commendable, Munduate acknowledged ongoing challenges in meeting Sustainable Development Goal 16.9, emphasising the need to strengthen the capacities of the National Population Commission (NPC) and enhance public awareness campaigns.

    The UNICEF Country Rep called for increased social mobilization and the involvement of traditional and religious leaders to boost birth registration rates. Munduate praised the eCRVS system for its real-time registration capabilities and urged collective action from all sectors to ensure every child receives the identity they deserve.

    She called for optimism and collaboration to create a sustainable birth registration system that serves all Nigerian children.

    UNICEF’s Chief Child Protection Officer, Ibrahim Sesay, underscored the significance of the launch in closing existing gaps in birth registration and promoting data-driven development plans for children in Nigeria.

    On his part, the Dein of Agbor HRM Dr Benjamin Keagborekuzi noted the pivotal role women play in achieving success in all aspects of life. The Paramount ruler also urged the youth to be patient with the present administration.

    Other traditional rulers present, including the Ooni of Ife, Emir of Shonga, Etsu Nupe and the Tor Tiv lent their voices to the cause saying the availability of birth data forms the basis for the country’s social security.

    There was the symbolic electronic registration of children at the event.

    Also present were the wives of state governors who were to cascade the drive to enhance birth registration in their various states.

  • Birth registration: Beyond rhetorics 

    Worried by poor birth registration in the country, stakeholders have converged on Kano to seek a lasting solution. SINA FADARE was there.

    The news is grim: millions of children born in Nigeria are not registered with the National Population Commission (NPopC). They don’t have any legal document identitying them as Nigerians.

    According to the recent statistics released by the Nigerian Demographic Health Survey (NDHS), about 20 million children between the ages of zero and five years were not registered at birth.

    The implication is that about 70 per cent of the children born in Nigeria are not recognised in the nation’s data base because they were not registered by the Nigerian Population Commission (NPopC). And most parents do not bother as they do not know the implications of not registering their children’s births.

    The survey showed that of the 24,890 health centres with birth registration facilities across the country, only 7,499 are operational, which account for about 30 per cent while the others do not conduct routine birth registration services. Against this backdrop, millions of children have  been missed and are not accounted for in the national data base.   Giving credence to this, the United Nations Children Education Fund (UNICEF) has expressed concern over the alarming low birth registration in the country, saying of the  seven million children born annually, only 1.4m are registered.

    The commission lamented that about 62 per cent of the children were born outside health facilities in Nigeria.

    This was disclosed by a UNICEF child protection specialist, Sharon Oladiji at a  media dialogue on birth registration, organised by UNICEF in collaboration with the Federal Ministry of Information.

    The event held in Kano.

    Oladiji  canvassed a strong advocacy at all levels to support the registration of about 32 million under- five children this year, adding that only eight percent are registered.

    “People are not registering births because they do not know. Not many states have done well in the course of the year. For instance, of the 24,890 available health centres, there are only 799 registration officers.”

    She said: “With birth registration, the government will be able to know the number of schools to be built, projects to undertake and health workers to employ. In 2016, registered births under age one was 2,519,017 which amounted to 51 per cent of estimated births in the country while about 57 per cent was registered in 2017.

    “It is therefore worrisome this year, where the performance of birth registration is only 32 per cent. This also shows that all the states have low registration and this can be traced to some limitations which must be urgently addressed”.

    However, investigation revealed that, for many years, the Federal Government has failed to make available adequate resources to NPopC to execute the  challenging task. Although at the conference, the Minister of Information, Culture and Tourism, Alhaji Lai Mohammed, has said birth registration was crucial for effective planning and to give identity to every Nigerian child, no measures have been taken to that effect.

    Most states visited by The Nation lacked the manpower and adequate logistics for birth registration, which  has denied millions of Nigerian children their identity.

    Speaking to The Nation on condition of anonymity, a Director in one of the states in the Northcentral lamented that the government was only playing lip service to the issue  and lacked the political will to tackle the birth registration holistically.

    He said: “As l am talking to you now, we are yet to get a dime for our logistics this year. If not for the constant intervention of international agencies like UNICEF, the situation would have been worse than this. How can a country abandon her responsibility of getting an accurate data on births. This is not only embarrassing but unfortunate”.

    The Nation also gathered that the NPopC headquartres in Abuja is a rented apartment and 11 other states are also using rented apartments for offices. The implication of this, according to demographic experts, is  absolute neglect of a vital segment of the society and a deliberate step by the powers that be not to give the Nigerian child an identity.

    The poor state of facilities in most of the offices across the country with nothing on ground to operate is an eyesore. Aside the fact that data collation in the states is still analogue format, most of the data are dumped in stores awaiting to be transported to Abuja for processing.

    In the process, majority of the vital documents get spoiled, or are eaten by termites where they are dumped for many months.

    As if this is not enough, no state can boast of any operational vehicle and available ones are nothing to write home about.

    Investigation also revealed that about 10 Directors of the commission have no official vehicle to move around.

    This has forced the commission to zone its operations in which materials that are supposed to go directly to some states are dumped in the zonal offices.

    It was also gathered that some materials  provided by UNICEF for Oyo, Osun and Kwara states were dumped in Osogbo, Osun State. This in no small way has contributed to the poor registration of births in the country.

    A source at the commission’s office in Abuja said birth registration had been abandoned in the last two decades by the Federal Government, which did not value data generation and most times relied on data from international agencies for  domestic operational plan.

    “This is the precarious situation we have been operating in for many years. Data generation all over the world is capital intensive  and unless the government declares an emergency in birth registration with deliberate funding, we will just talk about the issue year in, year out.

    “Imagine a commission that has been existing since independence still using a rented apartment as headquartres, if not for the intervention of UNICEF, the situation could have been worse,” he lamented.

    On the implication of poor birth registration, a demographer, Dr. Tunde Ariyo, noted that with the data released by the NDHS, it was obvious that the country has a long way to go in birth registration of under fives.

    Ariyo regretted that the NPopC  saddled with the responsibility has been neglected for so long, in terms of funding that it cannot cope with current challenges.

    “The intervention by UNICEF  and other agencies in providing logistics and printable materials for birth registration has been the saving grace, otherwise, the situation would have been  a disaster.  I have never seen a country like ours that will rely so much on foreign intervention before they can do the needful in birth registration,” said Ariyo.

    He pointed out that without funding and employment of adequate registrars that can collate raw data from the nooks and crannies of the country, millions of children would still be denied their identities.

    Ariyo said developments like access to health care, admission to schools, provision of social amenities and ability to plan ahead for the expected children  were tied to accurate birth registration data.

    “If about 20 million Nigerian children are not registered in the next 10 years, how is the country going to cater for them? That is why you see an army of unemployed graduates roaming the streets with all strata of government helpless,” he said.

    Speaking in the same vein, a food specialist with NAFDAC, Mr Emmanuel Ajayi, argued that most baby milk industries are always in a dilemma in terms of production due to poor data availability of the children from NPopC, which to a greater extent has hindered their production capacity.

    Although Assistant Director, (VRD) at NPopC, Abuja, Mrs Hapsatu Husaini Isiyaku, said all hope was not lost, she added that some achievements had been  recorded by the commission with available resources at its disposal.

    She said the commission collaborated with other stakeholders on some activities that are yielding results.

    ”To further straighten the collection of data on civil registration and vital statistics, the commission collaborates with the UNICEF, Ministries of Health, Education, and Women Affairs, Nigerian Immigration Services, National Identity Management Commission and the result is encouraging,”she said.

    Way Out

    To achieve accurate birth registration across the country, Ariyo said that an emergency should be declared in the sector and a holistic approach, in terms  of adequate funding, should be embarked upon by the Federal Government so that complementary  logistics from international agencies could have the intended impact.

    Aside this, he challenged state governments to see birth registration as a national call that should be supported with everything at their disposal.

    According to him, it will not be out of place for the  Federal Government to provide thousands of durable motor cycles across the offices of NPopC in the country so they can be effectively used to gather the needed data from the remotest village.

    Oladiji advocated for the establishment of additional health centres, employment of more registrars as well as continuous sensitisation of the public on the importance of birth registration.

    She lamented that about 40 per cent of women in the country do not access healthcare facilities, which is a major problem in birth registration. She noted that the 2013 NDHS report noted that low birth registration  was traceable to the ignorance of rural community dwellers, and called on civil society organisations as well as media practitioners to rise up to the challenge.

    The Head of Child Rights Information Bureau Advocacy Unit in the Federal Ministry of Information Abuja, Mr. Olamide Osanyinpelu, noted that birth registration was crucial for effective planning and a vessel to give an identity to every Nigerian. To address the problem, he said there should be improved partnerships with the health sector as well as filling the human resources gap in the National Population Commission.

    He also canvassed an aggressive media campaign to drive the demand for birth registration services and promote increased knowledge on the importance of the exercise.

  • Adamawa moves to improve birth registration

    Adamawa moves to improve birth registration

    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).

  • UNICEF: birth registration is right of every child

    As Nigeria joined the world yesterday to commemorate the 25th anniversary of the Convention on the Rights of the Child from which the Child Rights Act 2003 was derived, the United Nations Children’s Fund (UNICEF) has decried the low rate of birth registration, especially in the North.

    The Child Protection Specialist, UNICEF, Abuja office, Sharon Oladiji, said birth registration was important in ensuring the right of the child.

    She attributed the low rate of   birth registration to the ignorance of parents.

    Sharon said: “Birth registration is important in safeguarding the right of every child. Besides being the right of every child, birth registration helps statistics and planning. It gives each child an identity. In Nigeria, according to the 2013 Demographic Health Survey, the birth registration of under-five children is 57 per cent, while the remaining 43 per cent remain unregistered and in legal terms do not exist. This means 43 of 100 children born each day are missing.

    “This also means that their right to life and existence is being infringed on, because in future they will be denied certain privilege they ought to enjoy. For instance, in 10 years, only 57 per cent of the children will be planned for. The problem is compounded by the fact that three in every five births (62 per cent of  births) occur at home and only 35 per cent of births in the country are delivered at health facilities.”

    To increase the rate of birth registration, she told The Nation that UNICEF was supporting the Vital Registration Department of the National Population Commission with capacity building, service delivery and Information Communication Technology (ICT).

    The UNICEF official urged the cooperation of Nigerians and government to ensure that every child was registered.

  • UNICEF, Commission make case for birth registration

    UNICEF, Commission make case for birth registration

    Moved by the importance of birth registration to the nation’s development the United Nations Children’s Fund (UNICEF) and the National Population Commission (NpopC) are collaborating with the media to improve birth registration in the country. To acquaint the media with issues surrounding birth registration, they held a workshop in Kaduna for journalists from across the country, reports Evelyn Osagie.

    Today’s developmental challenges and security requirements has raised a renewed concern of population experts for having in place a veritable registration system.

    An effective system of vital registration is critical in the life of any nation, experts have said.

    It is this concern that informed the policy decision to ensure 100 per cent registration coverage by 2015, according to the Chairman, National Population Commission (NpopC), Abuja, Mr Eze Duruiheoma (SAN). Describing “Civil Registration” as the continuous, permanent and compulsory recording of the occurrence of vital events, such as births, deaths, morbidity, marriages, divorces, etc, by a registrar on a continuous basis in accordance with the legal requirements of a country, Mr Duruiheoma said, it provides government with needed information that would help in policy interventions to improve the quality and standard of live of the citizenry.

    He decried the low rate of birth and death registration coverage of hard to reach areas, particularly in the Northern. He noted that despite the commission’s efforts and the 36,000 registration centres across the country, the 2013 Demographic Health Survey say 43 out of every 100 child under the age of five go missing at birth.

    To change the trend, the Commission Chairman said the commission is partnering with relevant agencies and bodies. “The commission has embarked on multi-sectoral approach via collaboration with all relevant agencies, such as UNICEF, and institutions to consolidate the gains. UNICEF has been remarkable and outstanding in this effort. The Commission with the support of UNICEF have established excellent working relationship with the health sector.

    “Integrating birth registration services into the national health care delivery is on-going basic service program that avails the Commission the use health centres and personnel to boost the registration. Similar partnership is being worked out with the Education sector, faith-based organisations and some NGOs to improve on the registration outreach and coverage,” Mr Duruiheoma said.

    He made the observations at a three-day workshop for journalists in Kaduna in collaboration with United Nations Children’s Fund (UNICEF).

    While blaming the low rate on the lack of adequate public awareness on the importance of birth registration and ingrained socio-cultural beliefs that impacts negatively on registering births and deaths, he said: “The commission is partnering with the media  to intensify publicity and public enlightenment of the vital registration exercise, particularly at the grass root level”.

    The key messages developed by the media on birth and death registration along with the commission’s efforts, according to the Hon. Usman Ya’u Jama’a, Federal Commissioner representing Kaduna State, is sure to “greatly ameliorate the daunting challenges of ignorance and inadequate enlightenment that is posing a serious challenge to our efforts at attaining  the 100% registration by 2015”.

    On her part, United Nations Children’s Fund (UNICEF), the Child Protection Specialist, Sharon Oladiji has raised concern over the refusal of the leadership of seven out of the 29 out of the 36 states to sign a Memorandum of Understanding (Mou) with NpopC. She urged other the states, which include Lagos, Ogun, Rivers, Cross Rivers, Sokoto, Zamfara, Niger and the Federal Capital Territory (FCT), Abuja, to draw inspiration from their counterparts.

    Communication Specialist with UNICEF Abuja Office, Mr Geoffrey Njoku, expressed hope that the dreams of attaining 100 per cent birth registration rate in 2015 can be achievable through the help of the media. He called for support from media practitioners and administrators, saying: “Vital Registration is the rights of every child and aids national development.” He said: “UNICEF is collaboration with the Vital Registration Department of NpopC to scale up birth registration rates, especially in the country’s northern parts. We call on the media to be at the vanguard of the campaign.”

    Communication Officer, UNICEF Lagos Office, Blessing Ejiofor, called for the cooperation of every citizen in ensuring that their wards are duly registered, while urging government at all levels to put in place laws that would require parent to compulsorily register their wards.

    At the end of the workshop, participants said, they were ever so determined to lend their voices to the campaign.