UNICEF canvasses NIN for newborns to enhance civil registration processes …C0NTINUE READING HERE >>>
UNICEF says it is advocating the issuance of unique number or National Identity Number (NIN) at birth to every child in Nigeria living in specific locations.
The Country Representative to Nigeria, Ms Cristian Munduate, made the appeal on Monday in Abuja at the commemoration of the 2024 Civil Registration and Vital Statistics (CRVS) Day.
Celebrated on every August 10, since 2018, the 2024 theme for this year is ‘Strengthening the linkage of civil registration and vital statistics to legal identity systems through digitalisation for enhanced inclusion’.
According to Munduate, such issuance should be for children in rural, urban, semi-rural, semi-urban, rural slums and hard-to-reach areas to secure their identity chain in the civil registration processes.
She said, “No fewer than eight million babies are born in Nigeria every year and it is ideal for them to have access to birth registration.
“In every maternity ward of the country, whether first level or second level of health attention, all children should be registered without any excuse.
“So, the whole idea is to coordinate more with the health system and this is not just the government’s commitment.
“We have to really see support from the states and support means not only saying yes, but translating it into concrete actions.”
She also said that by linking civil registration and vital statistics to legal identity systems, accuracy, completeness, and timeliness of records of vital events, such as births, deaths, and marriages, would be ensured.
Director-General of the National Identity Management Commission (NIMC), Ms Bisoye Coker-Odusote, said the agency had been a veritable partner in the digitalisation of the identity sector in Nigeria.
She was represented by the Director of Information Technology, Mr Lanre Yusuf.
Coker-Odusote said that NIMC had, over time, changed the narrative in the civil registration process by enabling access to digital identity tokens and widening the scope of National Identification Number (NIN) enrolment through inclusivity.
“As of today, NIMC has issued more than 108 million unique NINs, out of which about 20 per cent are children’s enrolment.
“The commission is making concerted efforts to enroll all children below the age of 16 years in its drive towards inclusivity,” she said.
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