FG, UNICEF, begins e-birth registration at the end of July… Targets children in South, West States & Edo

The Federal Government, the National Populations Commission (NPC), in collaboration with the Lagos State Ministry of Youth and Social Development, will, by the end of July 2024, launch e-birth registration in five states in the South West Region.

The e-birth registration, which was conceptualized two years ago with the plan to ensure every child in Nigeria has a legal identity, is expected to change the narrative when implemented. Public members will see the exercise as an opportunity to give their children and wards the rights to everything that society and Nigeria have to offer.

Giving details of the digital registration exercise, the Child Protection Specialist, UNICEF, Lagos Field Office, Mr. Denis Onoije,, said, that the target for the year 2024 targets, 9.4 million children under 5 and Over 1.5 million children under one year.

“This is even as we have targeted 928,523 birth registrations of under-five children in the Southern region of Nigeria before the end of 2024. The target for Oyo State is 304,058; Osun State is 151,317; Ekiti State is 133,276; Ogun State is 172,516; and Edo State is 167,356. ” Onoije

Recall that President Bola Tinubu inaugurated the National Coordination Committee of the Electronic Civil Registration and Vital Statistics (e-CRVS) System under the National Populations Commission (NPC). The platform will digitize all civil documentation, such as birth and stillbirth registration, birth attestation, adoption, marriage notification, divorce notification, migration and death.

Onoije stated that “the right of every child to birth registration is enshrined in various international instruments such as the UN CRC (articles 7 & 8), the African Charter on the Rights and Welfare of the Child (article 6), and the Nigeria Child Rights Act (2003) (Article 5(2)).

One Legal Identity for All is one of the only SDGs to be achieved in Nigeria.

The specialist, while quoting the latest NPC data, said,, “The estimated population of Nigeria is 216,783,381; children under 5 is 16,705,671; and children under 1 is 3,554.005. pointing out that,” there are 164 million unregistered children worldwide, with more than half (around 91 million, representing 56 per cent) living in Africa “.

Explaining in detail, Onoije stated that the e-birth registration was designed to close the gap, thereby ensuring that every child counts. “The last Nigerian census was conducted about 20 years ago. We haven’t had the opportunity of another census yet. And for us, Nigerians, including children, have a lot to gain from being registered.

“We want to make birth registration faster, hence the reason we are going digital. We worked in 20 states last year, with plans to add other states in 2024. We intend to flag off the e-birth registration in Ekiti, Edo, Osun, Ogun and Oyo states,” he revealed.

The Chief of UNICEF Field Office for South West Nigeria, Celine Lafoucriere, says birth registration is a fundamental human right, and without legal identity, a child remains unavailable and invisible.

“A registered child has acknowledged protection rights but also to healthcare, education, and other critical services. Without child registration, these children remain invisible to our governments, making it difficult to plan adequately for them,” Lafoucriere added.

Communication Officer, UNICEF Lagos office, Blessing Ejiofor, noted that the e-birth registration will generate vital statistics that are necessary for effective planning and implementation of policy and budgeting. “If the government does not know how many children it has to budget for, it cannot do it efficiently,” she added.

Ejiofor enjoined media practitioners to relay accurate messages to society, adding that “Accurate and timely data from birth registration also allows for proper monitoring of progress made in the area of Sustainable Development Goals, SDGs.

Mrs Toyin Oke-Osanyintolu, Permanent Secretary, Lagos State Youth and Social Development, applauded the idea of e-birth registration, adding that the outcome will go a long way in contributing to the nation’s growth by putting in place the necessary space for children to have a good beginning in life. “A good beginning entails giving every child a legal identity,” she affirmed.

Speaking on what the Ministry is doing to protect the rights of children in Lagos State, Oke-Osanyintolu, who was represented by a Director in the Ministry of Youth, and Social Development, Adeola Labisi, says, the Ministry places a high premium on the best interests of every child in the state through formulation and implementation of policies and programmes.

Meanwhile, the State Director, of the National Populations Commission, NPC, Lagos State, Bamidele Sadiku, said, the Commission has 4,000 civil registration centres spread across the 774 local government areas of the 36 states, including the Federal Capital Territory of Abuja.

Sadiku said a well-developed and functioning civil registration system entails the documentation of all vital events, including births and deaths, adding that e-birth registration, when launched, would provide an identity that usually enables access to a wide range of basic rights and services as bonafide citizens.

Julie Ekong