The United Nation Children’s Fund, UNICEF, has emphasised the need for e-birth registration for every Nigerian child, stressing that without it, the child is invisible.
This, according to the organisation, would have an impact on the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs), one of which was to ensure legal identification for everyone by 2030, with a specific target of 16.9 under Goal 16.
Celine Lafoucriere, Chief of UNICEF Field Office for South West Nigeria, stated this on Tuesday during a 2-day media dialogue held in Lagos to drive e-birth registration in Southwest.
The dialogue, themed: “Giving Every Child a Legal Identity”, was organized by the Lagos State Ministry of Youth & Social Development, in collaboration with the National Population Commission, NPC and the United Nations Children’s Fund, UNICEF.
The UNICEF Chief of Field noted that the E-registration gives an opportunity to produce the statistics required for efficient planning adding that the government cannot properly plan for children if it lacks the adequate statistics.
In his remarks, the Lagos State director of the National Population Commission, Sadiku Bamidele, maintained that eliminating the problems associated with duplicate registration and giving an identity to every child is the primary purpose of the registration documentation.
Bamidele harped on the need to create awareness on birth registration, engage community structure, age groups, government, saying everyone should be involved so that things can be done properly.