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Femi Folaranmi, Yenagoa
The Federal Government has tasked traditional rulers in Bayelsa State to support the efforts of the government to keep proper records of birth registration in their domains.
Federal Commissioner representing Bayelsa in the National Population Commission (NPC), Mrs. Gloria Izonfuo, who stated this at the weekend when she presented a report on vital and civil registration in the state at the monthly meeting of Bayelsa State Traditional Rulers Council in Yenagoa, said it is important for the Federal Government to have the adequate records.
Izonfuo called for collaboration of all key stakeholders, including the state government, and urged the traditional rulers to appoint a community population focal person to liaise with the NPC registrar in charge of that catchment area to adequately cover all births in the community and its sub-localities. She said the difficult terrain of the state had hampered effective registration of births and deaths in the rural areas and noted that birth registration would help children have their rights to legal identity as Bayelsans.
Izonfuo, who revealed that about 90,000 new births were captured for last year and about 12,000 in the last five months this year, emphasised the need for more sensitisation of the people on the importance of birth and death registration to national development. She said the NPC was committed to building a strong data and statistics for national planning and that planning for the next population census was on course.
“Traditional rulers play a vital role in rallying the communities under their domain for developmental purposes. They can therefore help immensely in improving the Vital Registration System of Bayelsa State.
“Specifically they can collaborate with NPC. Traditional rulers have the ears of the people in their domain and so they can explain information for community development in a language that would be understood. I, therefore, earnestly appeal to you, royal fathers, to help impress on the people in your respective domains, the relevance of birth certificates to the child, community and state as large,” he said.
