New Telegraph

NPC moves to automate birth registration centres nationwide

The National Population Commission (NPC) says it is “at the thick” of automating its 4011 registration centres spread across the 774 local government areas in the country.

 

The Chairman of the Commission, Nasir Kwarra, who expressed his disappointment with the neglect of birth and death registration by many Nigerians, revealed this at a press conference to mark the 2021 Civil Registration and Vital Statistics (CRVS) in Abuja on Tuesday. Kwarra lamented that only 10 per cent of deaths are registered, while 43 per cent of under-five children are registered at birth.

 

He said the NPC opted for the automation of its CVRS to revitalise and upgrade the system in line with the vision of the Africa Programme on Accelerated Improvement of Civil Registration and Vital Statistics.

 

The NPC chief expressed confidence the automation process would boost birth and death registration system in the country.

 

His said: “From its humble beginning of manual registration, the commission has carefully navigated initial teething challenges and is at the thick of an effective transformation from manual to wholly digitisation and automation of the CVRS system in Nigeria in an effort to revitalise and upgrade the system in line with the vision of the Africa Programme on Accelerated Improvement of Civil Registration and Vital Statistics.

 

With the support of World Bank and UNICEF, the commission developed a fiveyear Strategic Action Plan (2018-2022).

 

“The broad objective of the plan is to enhance the framework for actions and guidance for national, states, LGAS and community initiatives aimed at ensuring that all vital events are registered.

 

Currently, the commission has 4011 registration centres spread across the 774 LGAS of the country. Outside these, the commission is also in serious collaboration with most health centres and local governments whose personnel assist our registrars in collecting information on deaths and births in their facilities.

 

“Currently, 43 per cent of under-five children are registered at birth and not more than 10 per cent of deaths are registered in Nigeria.

 

 

What this translates into is that many are born and die without leaving a trace of their existence in any legal record in the country. This is attributable to a whole range of causative factors including, but not limited to, geographic, cultural and traditional reasons.”

 

Also speaking, the Chief, Child Protection of the United Nations Children’s Emergency Fund (UNICEF) in Nigeria, Ibrahim Sesay, said African children had the lowest birth registration rate in the world. According to Sesay, only 44 per cent of children registered at birth and millions of deaths go uncounted each year.

He said Nigeria alone accounts for 11 per cent of unregistered children in West Africa. Sesay said: “Birth registration is a one-off event that gives every child a unique identity which will give them better access to vital services like health, education, and social protection.

 

Every child counts – and we must ensure that we count every child, so that they can best benefit from important services like health and education,” said Peter Hawkins, UNICEF Nigeria Country Representative.”

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