By Janet Samuel
The National Council for Women Societies, (NCWS) has advocated for an enhanced awareness campaign to boost the birth registration of Nigeria children.
The Acting National President (ANP), Mrs Geraldine Etuk, who made the call at a one-day sensitisation campaign on birth registration, organised by the council in Abuja, described birth registration as the first legal acknowledgment of a child’s existence.
Mrs Etuk noted that the sensitisation campaign, with the theme: ‘Enhancing Birth Registration in Nigeria: Leveraging the NCWS Structure,’ was born out of the official launch of the Renewed Hope Initiative Project to Accelerate Birth Registration at scale in Nigeria by the first lady, Senator Oluremi Tinubu.
According to her, ‘the initiative highlighted the need to enhance advocacy and social mobilisation at both household and community levels with the aim of increasing the completeness and timeliness of birth registrations and contribute to achieving the 2030 Sustainable Development Goal, SDG, 16.9 target.
“Birth registration is the first legal acknowledgment of a child’s existence, essential for safeguarding their rights and privileges both now and in the future. Furthermore, accurate birth registration is crucial for national planning and development, as it provides the government with essential data to effectively plan for education, healthcare, and other social services.”
She expressed the commitment of the council as a leading women’s organisation, to advocating for the rights and welfare of women and children.
“Today’s campaign aims to raise awareness about the significance of birth registration, identify the challenges hindering it, propose solutions, and strengthen partnerships with government agencies, international organisations, and relevant stakeholders.
“We must work together to increase awareness about birth registration, improve access to registration services, and enhance institutional capacity,” added.
Etuk expressed appreciation for the support of NCWS partners, which include the United Nations Children’s Fund, UNICEF, and the National Population Commission, NPC, as well as members of the council whom she said were working tirelessly to ensure the success of the campaign.
Also speaking, the Assistant Director Vital Signs Department, NPC, Helen Ugohi, said. “to ensure that at the point of registering every child, NIN is generated for the child to enhance the speedy collaboration, whereby the NIMC can sit on the National Population Commission application to work in synergy to ensure that every child is issued a NIN number alongside batch registration”.
In her remark, the ,UNICEF’s Child Protection Manager, Mona Aika, who praised the NCWS for its pivotal role in promoting birth registration, noted that the fund is targeting to register children under 5 for this year and under 1 for the newborns.
One of the participants at the sensitisation campaign, the President of NCWS Kaduna State chapter, Barrister Zainab Hassan also highlighted the challenges and efforts being made in birth registration, particularly in Kaduna State, stressed the importance of community involvement and the role of local leaders in ensuring children are registered to benefit from government services.
