Nigeria: NPC, UNICEF unite to give every child legal identity through birth registration

Nigeria's National Population Commission (NPC), in partnership with UNICEF and other stakeholders, is intensifying efforts to guarantee that every Nigerian child obtains a legal identity through birth registration from the earliest stages of life.

The initiative seeks to strengthen the country's civil registration system by integrating birth registration with primary healthcare services. It also involves greater decentralization of registration centers to local communities and ensuring seamless interoperability between civil registration and national identity systems. This renewed push is especially focused on newborns and children under one year old, as timely registration is crucial for accessing essential services like healthcare, education, and social protection.

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The main challenges to accelerate civil registration and legal identity in Nigeria include limited accessibility to civil registration services, inadequate number of registration centres and associated long distances, language barriers, inefficient registration processes, and insufficient financial, human capacity and material resources.

UNICEF Child Protection Specialist Denis Onoise highlighted significant barriers to registration, including inadequate centers, long travel distances, language differences, inefficient processes, and a lack of financial, human, and material resources. These challenges are compounded in hard-to-reach areas and among disadvantaged populations, leading to indirect costs for families such as transportation and lost work time.

To overcome these obstacles, stakeholders are proposing a stronger collaboration. The NPC will manage birth and death registrations, while the National Identity Management Commission (NIMC) will link these records to the national identity database, assigning a National Identification Number (NIN). Local governments will play a vital role by establishing registration points at ward and community levels, bringing services closer to families and integrating them into primary healthcare, thereby reducing the burden on parents and making registration a routine part of healthcare provision.

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The problem is compounded in hard-to-reach areas and among disadvantaged population groups.