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Fred Ezeh, Abuja
A new report on global birth registration released by the United Nations Children’s Fund (UNICEF), has indicated that despite significant increase in birth registration, 17 million Nigerian children under the age of 5, or 1 in 5, remain unregistered.
According to the new report, “Birth Registration for Every Child by 2030”, 166 million children under-five, or 1 in 4, remain unregistered, globally.
Birth registration is the official record of the occurrence and characteristics of a new birth by the civil registrar within the civil registry, in accordance with the legal requirements of a country. A birth certificate is a vital record, issued by the civil registrar, that documents the birth of a child.
In Nigeria, the report confirmed that number of children whose births are officially registered has increased significantly from 30 percent in 2013 to 43 percent in 2018, attributing the success to the integration of birth registration into health services.
UNICEF Representative in Nigeria, Peter Hawkins, in his reactions to the report said, “We have come a long way in our campaign to ensure that children are officially registered at birth, and significant success has been made.
“Integrating the campaign in health care services was one of the approaches that yielded significant result. However, there’s still too many children who are slipping through the cracks that need to be captured.
“These unaccounted children are ‘nonexistent’ in the eyes of the government or the law. Without proof of identity, children are often excluded from accessing education, health care and other vital services, and are vulnerable to exploitation and abuse.”
He, thus asked government and community leaders to support the campaign and encourage parents in their localities to register their newborns so they can enjoy the benefits therein.
“Barriers to high registration coverage in Nigeria include the operation of two parallel and competing systems for birth registration at federal and state levels.
“Also, insufficient birth registrars, lack of public awareness on the importance of birth registration for children, coupled with ingrained social beliefs that do not encourage the registration of children are some of the identified barriers,” he said.
