The United Nations Children’s Fund, UNICEF has said that only 33 per cent of children in Nigeria have birth certificates.
The UNICEF’s Chief of Kano Field Office, Rahama Farah stated during a stakeholders meeting on birth registration organized by the fund in collaboration with the National Population Commission, NPC in Kano.
Farah represented by the Senior Education Specialist, Michael Banda said one in every four births of Nigerian children aged under 5 years are not registered while stressing the need for the country to do more to bridge the gap.
The UNICEF Chief while giving a hint on the situation in Kano, said more than 45 per cent of the children don’t have their births registered in the state.
According to him, the Multiple Indicator Cluster Survey MICS 2021 shows that about 1 in every 4 births of Nigerian children aged under 5 years are not registered. According to MICS 2021, only 33 per cent of these registered children have a birth certificate.
Farah said that to this end, UNICEF is supporting the Government of Nigeria through the National Population Commission, NPC to explore innovative measures and strategies to ensure every child that is born is registered at birth.
On his part, the Chairman, National Population Commission, NPC, Nasir Kwarra, however, emphasized on the need for birth registration upon childbirth saying a child without birth registration is a lost child and that without nationality.
Kwarra represented by his Director, Civic Registration and Vital Statistics, Matthew Sunday said the commission is not leaving any stone unturned to identify critical stakeholders such as the Traditional and religious leaders, UNICEF, NOA, NYSC partners, or leverage to ensure all Nigerian children were duly registered.
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