By Justina Auta
The National Council of Women Societies (NCWS), has begun nationwide sensitisation to create awareness on birth registration.
The campaign is aimed at enabling Nigeria to achieve 2030 Sustainable Development Goal (SDGs) target.
Mrs Geraldine Ita-Etuk, Acting-National President, NCWS, who spoke at the inauguration of the exercise, on Thursday in Abuja, said that the initiative would encourage birth registration, especially at the community level.
Ita-Etuk said that the organisation would leverage on its structure to mobilise people, especially at community and hard-to-reach areas to register births of their babies.
“Today’s campaign aims to raise awareness about the significance of birth registration, identify the challenges hindering it, propose solutions, and strengthen partnerships with relevant stakeholders.
“We must work together to increase awareness about birth registration, improve access to registration services, and enhance institutional capacity,” she said.
She described Nigeria’s birth registration rate as low, with millions of unregistered children, adding that the trend exposed them to exploitation, child labor and trafficking.
According to her, women leaders understand the importance of birth registration in securing a child’s identity, citizenship and future opportunities.
“Birth registration is the first legal acknowledgment of a child’s existence, essential for safeguarding their rights and privileges both now and in the future.
“Furthermore, accurate birth registration is crucial for national planning and development, as it provides the government with essential data to effectively plan for education, healthcare and other social services,” she said.
Mrs Helen Ogohi, Assistant Director, Civil Registration Department, National Population Commission (NPC), said the commission set up over 4,000 registration centres acriss the country.
She added that the campaign would encourage more birth registration.
According to Ogohi, the commission is working in collaboration with the National Identity Management Commission (NIMC), to ensure that National Identification Number (NIN) is generated to a child at the point of registering.
“We want to ensure that at the point of registering every child, the NIN is generated for the child.
“This is to enhance a speedy collaboration whereby the NIMC app can sit on the NPC application to work in synergy to ensure that every child is issued NIN alongside birth registration,” she said.
Also, Ms Mona Aika, Child Protection Officer, UNICEF, said the initiative by NCWS was a clear call to action to ensure that the children were duely registered.
Aika said, “birth registration is the right of every child. It’s the legal identity for each child. If you’re not registered, you’re very likely not to be able to access services.
“So, it is important, and we are supporting, as UNICEF the government to ensure that children are registered in Nigeria, to enjoy their right to legal identity as we move towards the SDG, 2030”. (NAN)