NPC urges parents to embrace e-birth registration in Sokoto 

By Bashir Rabe Mani in Sokoto

The National Population Commission (NPC) has urged parents, traditional institutions and other stakeholders in Sokoto State to embrace e-birth registration.

The NPC Federal Commissioner representing Sokoto State, Alhaji Abdullahi Chiso Dattijo, made the appeal during the statewide launching of the e-birth registration, on Wednesday in Sokoto.

Dattijo said e-birth registration is part of the nationwide Electronic-Civil Registration and Vital Statistics (E-CRVS) System being implemented to ensure that every child was registered, protected, and empowered.

He described birth registration as an important commitment to the future of children.

”This initiative represents a major milestone in Nigeria’s efforts to modernise civil registration, improve the generation of vital.statictics. It will ensure that birth and deaths are accurately captured through a secure, efficient and technology-driven system.

“Registration is much more than a legal requirement, it provides every citizen with legal identity and generates reliable demographic data that supports government planing, healthcare delivery, education, social protection, security and economic development, ” Dattijo said.

The NPC Federal Commissioner added that the exercise was a transformative milestone in Nigeria’s civil registration and vital statistics modernisation agenda.

Dattijo, a former Deputy Governor of Sokoto state, stressed that despite remarkable progress, many births and deaths are still not registered across the country.

According to him, the gap limits access to essential services and weakens the quality of data required for effective planing.

The NPC Federal Commissioner said that the introduction of digital platform was to ensure faster and more efficient registration services, improvement in the accuracy of the process, and reducing paper work and processing time.

“It will also enhance security and integrity of records, make easier access to registration services and facilitate more reliable database for planing and national development.

“The platform is designed to integrate seamlessly with other government digital systems, thereby strengthening Nigeria’s national identity ecosystem and improving service delivery,” he added.

In his address, the NPC State Director, Mr Salihu Ladan, also urged parents, guardians and the general public to take advantage of the digital platforms to register their newborns and and those who died.

Ladan also urged traditional and religious leaders to champion the exercise, so as to encourage parents and guardians to register every newborn.

He commended UNICEF for their continued support and providing digital printers to the NPC offices in the 23 local government areas of the state.

Representatives of UNICEF and NIMC, in separate remarks, commended NPC for the initiative and assured increased working synergy to achieve the desire results.

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