By Muhammad Amaan
The United Nations Children’s Fund (UNICEF) has urged the government to implement electronic birth registration to grant millions of children their rightful place in society, to ensure that every child in Nigeria has a legal identity,
The Chief of the UNICEF Field Office for South West Nigeria, Celine Lafoucriere, noted that the system would enhance national planning and development for the country with e-birth registration.
She stated this during a two-day media dialogue on e-birth registration in collaboration with the Lagos State Ministry of Youth and Social Development and the National Population Commission.
According to the UNICEF chief, with efficient e-birth registration for the country, the government at all levels would be able to adequately plan and implement policies that will cater to the needs of the people, particularly young citizens.
She said, “It is important to give every child an identity, and this can be achieved through registration. E-registration is important to generate statistics for effective planning. If adequate statistics are not available, the government might not be able to adequately plan for children.”
In his presentation, UNICEF Child Protection Specialist, Denis Onoise, revealed that NPC was targeting more than nine million birth registrations for children under five years and four million registrations for children less than one year old as of 2024.
He said to achieve proper e-registration for children in the country, there was a need to partner with primary health centres in the country.
Onoise emphasized that available statistics show that people in rural areas registered their children at birth at a rate of 78.90 per cent, compared to 44.8 per cent recorded in urban areas.
He added that the integration of birth registration with the National Identification Number will go a long way to provide adequate data for the birth database in the country.
In his remarks, NPC Lagos Office Director, Bamidele Sadiku, who said that the e-birth registration platform would provide better lives for Nigerians, stressed that the system would also prevent double birth and death registrations in the country.
Sadiku revealed that NPC had begun a move to partner with the National Identity Management Commission to link both registrations with the NIN.
“From time to time, we receive complaints from the EFCC and other security agencies on the issue of birth registration. However, e-registration will solve multiple birth and death registrations because it will be lined with the NIN. This will give identity to every child that is born in the country.
