The United Nations Children Fund (UNICEF) in partnership with the Federal Government of Nigeria says plans are underway to digitise birth registration across the country, with Kano State taking the lead from October 2022.
UNICEF Child Protection Manager, Kano Field Office, Emelia Allan, disclosed this at a two-day
workshop organized by UNICEF in partnership with the Abubakar Rimi Television, Kano to enhance the capacity of journalists from the three states of Jigawa, Katsina and Kano.
The Child Protection Manager observed that the manual birth registration was responsible for the low birth record in the country, She however noted that with the takeoff of digital birth registration in Kano in October, the country’s birth records are bound to shoot up.
While noting that the importance of birth registration for any country cannot be overemphasized, Allan said: ”Arrangement on the planned exercise has gone far, with Kano State as the pilot state, saying that the success of Kano will determine how the exercise will go about nationwide.
“We are doing our best on child rights protection, with government agreed five key areas, including law and policies in line with international standards,
“Also, increasing birth registration is among the key areas and the good news is that Kano is piloting the digital birth registration system.
“The government wants to digitize the system, and Kano is piloting it in all the 44 local government areas in the state, so we are working towards that.”
Speaking earlier, the the UNICEF Chief, Kano field office, Mr Rahama Farah said the capacity building workshop
urged the participants to take advantage of the electioneering season to herald the plight of vulnerable children in the country.
“With 2023 around the corner and politicians and candidates campaigning for positions, the media should engage these politicians to make a commitment on how they intend to tackle some of these issues if they get to office.
“The world should know the situation of children in Nigeria to the extent that if you marry off an under-age girl, she may never get the opportunity to go to school.”