The United Nations Children’s Fund (UNICEF), in collaboration with the National Population Commission (NPC), has launched a campaign in Gombe State urging residents to embrace digital birth registration.
It described it as a transformative step towards ensuring every Nigerian child has a legal identity from birth.
The initiative follows a three-day Train-the-Trainers workshop where representatives from 114 health facilities and 114 ward levels were trained on using digital devices to register births across the state.
The programme is part of Nigeria’s efforts to strengthen its Civil Registration and Vital Statistics (CRVS) system and integrate birth registration with National Identification Number (NIN) enrolment.
UNICEF’s Chief of Bauchi Field Office, Dr. Nuzhat Rafique, emphasised the importance of early birth registration in safeguarding children’s rights.
“The T-O-T is the use of these devices, the tablets to register every child in their respective area. Birth registration is the first basic right of a child at the time of birth. So, that is what UNICEF is promoting, all over the world, especially in Nigeria and in North East States and Gombe, where birth registration is not optimally done,” she said.
The State Director of NPC, Mr. Ali Usman, reaffirmed the commission’s commitment to ensuring that no child goes uncounted.
He said; “We remain committed to collaborating with stakeholders to build a Nigeria where no child goes uncounted, every individual is recognised, and everyone contributes to the nation’s development,” while appreciating the support of the Association of Local Governments of Nigeria (ALGON) in Gombe.
Representing ALGON, Gombe State Vice Chairperson, Mrs. Binta Bello pledged sustained backing from all local government chairmen on birth registration.
“We have the resources to maintain it and maintaining it is a minimal thing. We have the manpower as well,” she assured.
UNICEF Child Protection Specialist, Mrs. Ladi Alabi, explained that traditional birth attendants, primary healthcare workers, and local focal persons had been integrated into the programme to ensure every birth is captured electronically immediately.
“The whole idea is that every birth that takes place at the PHCs must be captured immediately and electronically. Then the Word Focal Persons who have received the devices will also be receiving notification of births from multiple sources. So as the notification comes to them, they make sure that those births are actually captured or recorded electronically,”she said.
Technical Expert from NPC, Mr. Arukwe Oscar Joe, said that the digital system would revolutionise planning and policy implementation by providing accurate data.
“With this, our Vital Reg, we are able to keep accurate data. To be honest, it’s a major setback in our country—we can’t make plans because we don’t really know how many children are being born, how many children have died. But with this, our Vital Reg, we are able to keep accurate data,” he explained.
With Gombe State positioned as a pilot hub, UNICEF expressed confidence that it would set the pace for other states in Nigeria to follow, helping the country achieve universal birth registration and secure the future of millions of children.
PIAK