National Population Commission (NPC) yesterday said it is targeting 156,230 children 0-5 years for its digital birth registration programme in Ekiti State.
The state director of NPC, Dr (Mrs) Olufunbi Olowokere who made the disclosure said the digital birth registration drive is a collaborative effort between the commission and UNICEF marks a significant milestone towards ensuring that every child’s right to identity, protection, health, education and social security is guaranteed.
Addressing a news conference organised by the Ekiti State government in Ado Ekiti, Olowokere noted that NPC is also being supported by the state government, adding that the digital registration which started in August this year will end in December 2024.
She clarified that the exercise is not a population census but a digital system for registering births which comes with a lot of advantages including connection to National Identity Management Commission database and generation of the child’s National Identity Number (NIN), captured immunised children, facilitates access to education and social services, child identity, nationality and name, child protection support and anti- trafficking efforts, accurate planning and resource allocation for children’s programmes, among others.
The NPC boss added that the initiative aligns with the child rights policy and revealed that 779 ad-hoc volunteers have been recruited and are currently working in the field.
“I would like to highlight that we have a well-established routine for birth registration which caters for children from birth to 17 years of age on a continuous basis,” she said.
According to her, trained NPC registrars have been stationed in all NPC offices, hospitals and health centres in all the 16 local government areas of the state to ensure seamless registration.
The commissioner for Budget, Economic Planning and Performance in the state, Mr Niyi Adebayo highlighted the importance of the exercise noting that with the accurate counting of people in a community, it would be easier to make adequate provisions for such people.
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