UNICEF Decries Poor Birth Registration, Asks Tinubu To Take Action

The United Nations Children’s Fund (UNICEF) has said many Nigerian babies are not registered at birth because of lack of action from the government.

The Chief of Child Protection, UNICEF Nigeria, Ibrahim Sesay, said President Bola Tinubu must match action with commitment if the gap will be closed. He decried that 44 percent of children born in rural communities are not registered at birth.

UNICEF Nigeria’s Chief of Child Protection said it was regrettable that child registration which is one the few Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) Nigeria can achieve could not be fulfilled.

Sesay said this in an interview with Arise TV, on Thursday. He said the UN body has been making an effort by collaborating with traditional and religious leaders, women’s organizations and other stakeholders to ensure babies are registered.

“We already saw traditional and religious leaders gathered as part of a composite across society, both from the executive, women’s organizations, youth and even part of the executive to say we should really come together to really push things forward so that births are registered. I would say one thing, this is one of the few SDG goals that Nigeria can achieve,” Sesay said.

UNICEF explained that the lack of desire to register children at birth must be addressed. He suggested incentivizing the process to win the interest of parents. He noted that the body has also commenced registration of babies along with giving vaccines.

“This is basically both a demand and supply issue. People should first see the importance of birth registration and then they will register their children. So if the incentives are not there with regards to what really needs to be done, and the supply component in terms of having the infrastructure and the capacities to do so, obviously you’ll be able to see the cracks.

“One thing that practically, we’ve been looking at, one is the integration of birth registration with primary healthcare interventions. Where you give a vaccine, make sure a child’s birth is registered. If they are receiving vitamin A supplementation, make sure a child’s birth is registered,” he stated.

Sesay continued, “The beauty of this is that Nigeria Identity Management Commission (NIMC), National Population Commission, we’ve all come together to ensure that at the point of birth registration, a national identification number is issued rather than waiting for age 16. So what does this mean?

“Once now you register the child, and then we’ll also be looking at immunization records. So this has now been a sort of a dual win-win situation. And if you are now getting into school, where is your birth certificate? And then in terms of you getting into, for you to be entered within the school system.

“So there are a lot of advantages in terms of looking at this. Planning purposes with regards to where we should be able to institute our social services, so that children will be able to access those in an effortless manner.

“The game plan here, when you look in terms of the changing business processes, how can families access birth registration at no cost? So services have to be brought to the household footsteps, and registration occurs and a birth certificate will then be issued to those particular children when it’s being needed most.”

UNICEF Nigeria chief said the President must match his commitment in November 2023 with action. He noted that rural areas must be reached and registered. He added that poor birth registration is prevalent in rural areas across the country.

“Basically, the statistics also portrayed it, because when you look in terms of rural areas, and they’re more especially in far locations, wherein the services are not really reaching them, it’s really low, 44%, which is so dismal.

“So what is required here is putting an interest, because His Excellency the President on the 8th of November last year said, oh hallelujah, I’m here to really support birth registration as part of civil registration, by making sure that there is a digital system for this to occur. But actions should be matched with this commitment,” Sesay said.