National Population Commission to Launch Electronic Civil Registration System

Bitrus Kozah

Last updated Nov 9, 2023

The National Chairman of the National Population Commission (NPC), Mr. Nasir Isa Kwarra, says the soon-to-be-launched electronic Civil Registration and Vital Registration System (CRVS) is in line with the Sixth Session of Conference of African Ministers responsible for Civil Registration and Vital Statistics (CRVS).

President Bola Ahmed Tinubu will on Wednesday, 8th November 2023, launch the CRVS at the State House Conference Centre, Abuja at 10:00 a.m.

The launch, which is being organized by the National Population Commission in collaboration with the UNICEF and Barnksforte Technologies Limited, will also feature the launch of the National Geospatial Data Repository and the inauguration of the National Coordination Committee on CRVS.

Speech: Press Briefing on the Presidential Launch of the Electronic Civil Registration and Vital Statistics System and National Geospatial Data Repository delivered by the NPC Chairman, Hon. Nasir Isa Kwarra, fnsa at the NPC's Headquarters, Abuja today, 6th November 2023. pic.twitter.com/wSssvUzGeA

— National Population Commission (@natpopcom) November 6, 2023

Mr Kwarra said the African ministers had made several resolutions and encouraged all countries on the continent to automate the Civil Registration and Vital Statistics process and ensure the implementation of the United Nations Legal Identity Agenda.

He made this known during a press conference in Abuja, Nigeria’s capital.

According to Mr Kwarra, “this process marks a complete departure from traditional paper-based recording of vital events to a state-of-the-art digital solution that conforms to international best practices.”

He assured that the electronic Civil Registration and Vital Statistics System promised to revolutionize how vital events are recorded, tracked, and analyzed in the country.

The chairman of the commission also explained that the report provided the holistic approach to the future state vision for digitized CRVS, the roll-out of a decentralized digital birth registration system as part of CRVS, and identified areas to strengthen the automation of the system.

“The report ushered in the bold step taken by the commission for a transformative innovation of the CRVS (Vital Reg) system by developing a Public-Private Partnership (PPP) arrangement between the commission and Barnksforte Technologies Limited, a reputable, and innovative indigenous ICT solution provider with a track record of success in ICT solution provision with government agencies.

“The Public-Private Partnership arrangement is to promote the Vital Registration System as a complete electronic system that digitalizes all civil registrations such as birth registration, still birth registration, birth attestation, adoption, marriage notification, divorce notification, migration and death,” he stated.

The system also provides a digital certificate in all cases, an accessible verification platform to registered organizations and has a central management system (dashboard) that depicts and analyzes collated civil registrations into vital statistics for proper decision-making.

“It should also be noted that NPC in the course of preparation for the first digital census in Nigeria, the census-mapping – using a ‘cutting edge’ technological methodology, ie Geographic Information System (GIS) – captured geospatial data, covering a multidimensional theme with total coverage of the country,” he added.