The United Nations Children Fund says it is advocating the issuance of a unique number or National Identity Number at birth to every child in Nigeria living in specific locations.
The Country Representative of UNICEF to Nigeria, Cristian Munduate, made the appeal on Monday in Abuja.
Munduate spoke at the commemoration of the 2024 Civil Registration and Vital Statistics Day.
Celebrated every August 10 since 2018, the 2024 theme is: “Strengthening the linkage of civil registration and vital statistics to legal identity systems through digitalisation for enhanced inclusion.”
According to Munduate, such issuance should be for children in rural, urban, semi-rural, semi urban, rural slums and hard to reach areas to secure their identity chain in the civil registration processes.
She said no fewer than “eight million babies are born in Nigeria every year and it is ideal for them to have access to birth registration.
“In every maternity ward of the country, whether first level or second level of health attention, all children should be registered without any excuse.
“So, the whole idea is to coordinate more with the health system and this is not just the government’s commitment.
“We have to really see support from the states and support means not only saying yes, but translating it into concrete actions.”
Munduate also said that by linking civil registration and vital statistics to legal identity systems, accuracy, completeness, timeliness of records of vital events such as births, deaths, and marriages would be ensured.
The Director-General, National Identity Management Commission, Bisoye Coker-Odusote, said that NIMC had been a veritable partner in the digitalisation of the identity sector in Nigeria.
She was represented by the Director of Information Technology, Lanre Yusuf.
Coker-Odusote said that NIMC had over time changed the narrative in the civil registration process by enabling access to digital identity tokens and widening the scope of National Identification Number enrolment through inclusivity.
She said: “As of today, NIMC has issued more than 108 million unique NINs, out of which about 20 percent are children’s enrolment.
“The commission is making concerted efforts to enroll all children below the age of 16 years in its drive towards inclusivity.
“NIMC plans to enroll all Nigerians and legal residents into the National Identity Database within the shortest time possible.”
Coker-Odusote added that the commission was also on the verge of inaugurating an improved General Multipurpose Card as part of its digital and inclusivity plans.
The card, she said, in partnership with the Central Bank of Nigeria, Nigeria Inter-bank Settlement System and AFRIGO, when inaugurated, would support the Federal Government’s social safety net programme and other government initiatives towards the citizens.
The Chairman, National Population Commission, Isa Kwarra, said the commemoration was aimed at demonstrating the essential role civil registration and vital statistics system plays in facilitating the recognition of the legal identity for all persons.
Kwarra said: “It also provides key data for planning, policy formulation, decision making and good governance.
“In doing so, conscious effort should be made to ensure that the Civil Registration and Vital Registration System enjoy broad-based support that leverages the development in information technology, inter-operable and easily accessible to the generality of the people.
“They are the primary sources of data on births, deaths, marriages, and other vital events, which are crucial for planning, governance and the protection of rights.
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“Yet, for too long, these systems have remained underdeveloped, often inaccessible to those in rural or marginalised communities, and plagued by inefficiencies that hinder their full potential.”
Kwarra, however, said that in a rapidly evolving world, “where technology drives progress and innovation, it is imperative to harness the power of digital tools to modernise the nation’s civil registration processes.
“It offers us the unprecedented opportunity to create a robust, interoperable system that links civil registration with legal identity and vital statistics, ensuring that no one is left behind.”
The News Agency of Nigeria reports that the purpose of the commemoration is to increase public awareness on the importance of timely registration of vital events, particularly births and deaths, through well-functioning civil registration and vital systems.
