About 31percent of children under- five in Lagos state are not registered at birth– accounting for 1,436,896 4million children, says a report obtained from global data platform RapidSMS.
The data revealed that the worst performing Local Government Areas (LGAs) are Epe (28,817), Lagos Island (28,579), Ibeju- Lekki (18,346). However, the state is the most populous in Africa and divided into five administrative divisions, which are about 37 local Government.
With about 70 per cent of children in Nigeria not having their birth registered, the National Population Commission (NPopC) Lagos state, has vowed to meet one million birth registration target before the end of 2019.
Nwannkwu Ikechukwu the Deputy Head of Director (HOD), Vital Registration Department, NPopC, Lagos state, who disclosed this at a 2day media workshop on the need to scale up birth registration in Lagos, organized by the National Orientation Agency (NOA) Lagos state, in collaboration with the United Nations Children’s Fund (UNICEF), in Oyo State.
To scale up birth registration in Lagos state, Ikechukwu said “there are 122 birth registration centers in the state, adding that the commission plans to create additional 26 centers. “Another six centers will be created in Alimosho due to its large population,” he added.
Ikechukwu said NPopC Lagos state, is still confronted with myriad of challenges like lack of suitable offices for comptrollers and registrars; touting of birth and death certificate; unhealthy rivalry between Lagos state council staff and NPopC registrars.
At intervals, birth registration mop-up, an active form of registration whereby ad hoc registrars are mobilized to go from house to house to canvass birth registration, are embarked upon to register the births that are probably not registered during normal registration, says Ikechukwu.
“Mop-up has really helped to capture the children living on water in order to boost registration of birth and get wider coverage. The intervention of UNICEF to scale up Birth Registration in Lagos State cannot be over emphasized,” he added.
Notwithstanding the achievement in Lagos state, Ikechukwu said NPopC Lagos state, is still confronted with myriad of challenges like lack of suitable offices for comptrollers and registrars; touting of birth and death certificate; unhealthy rivalry between Lagos state council staff and NPopC registrars.
He added that late registration, ignorance, illiteracy, lack of awareness, analog method of registration, demand for money registrars before issuing birth certificate, attitude of NPopC staff insufficient workforce and resources, few registrars covering very large areas/catchment areas, lack of public awareness on the importance of birth registration and social and cultural beliefs that perpetuates non registering of birth death.
“Mop-up has really helped to capture the children living on water in order to boost registration of birth and get wider coverage. The intervention of UNICEF to scale up Birth Registration in Lagos State cannot be over emphasized,” he added.
Notwithstanding the achievement in Lagos state, Ikechukwu said NPopC Lagos state, is still confronted with myriad of challenges like lack of suitable offices for comptrollers and registrars; touting of birth and death certificate; unhealthy rivalry between Lagos state council staff and NPopC registrars.
He added that late registration, ignorance, illiteracy, lack of awareness, analog method of registration, demand for money registrars before issuing birth certificate, attitude of NPopC staff insufficient workforce and resources, few registrars covering very large areas/catchment areas, lack of public awareness on the importance of birth registration and social and cultural beliefs that perpetuates non registering of birth death.
Birth registration is the first step towards recognizing a child’s inalienable right as a human being.
Sharon Oladiji, UNICEF child protection specialist said that in 2017, She said the worst performing LGAs in Lagos state are Mushin with 16 per cent, Apapa with 26 per cent, Ajeromi/Ifelodun with 26 per cent while in 2018, the worst performing LGAs are Ajeromi/Ifelodun with 34 per cent, Lagos mainland with 36 per cent and Mushin with 41 per cent birth registration.
“the consequences of a weak birth registration systems are incapacity to generate relevant public health data and national estimates and population planning; poorly functioning civil registration directly affects the exercise of basic human rights.
“To achieve free and universal birth registration, formulating and enacting laws, policies and standards-dealing with two parallel and competing, birth registration systems, improving service delivery identifying barriers, encouraging innovation, forging community based-approaches.” She said.
Speaking on the way forward, Adeyinka Adefope, a consultant and a resource person for children stressed that the explosion of population affects the health of the people, the goal for this workshop is to scale up birth registration.
The media need to be educated, the awareness should reach the communities, primary healthcare centres, among the traditional birth attendance to help expand information on the need for registering children,” she advise.
ANTHONIA OBOKOH
