By Giwa SHILE
The National Population Commission (NPC) on Tuesday raised the alarm over the high rate of unregistered children in Ogun State.
The State Director of NPC, Mr Gbolahan Olude, told a UNICEF-backed meeting on media campaign for promoting birth registration that the situation called for a redress.
Olude lamented that the state, according to the National Demographic Health Survey in 2013, recorded 35 per cent birth registration.
This, he said, was “extremely discouraging,” adding that the record increased to 38 percent in 2018 based on the data available at the NPC state office.
Olude, who said birth registration is essential for national planning, urged parents and caregivers to register the births of their children.
“A child who is not registered at birth is denied the right to an official identity, a recognised name and a nationality.
“Birth registration once done is permanent. It is compulsory for parents to register their children. One of the dynamics of population is birth registration. Without strong birth registration system, it is virtually impossible to plan or implement effective development strategies.
“Birth registration is a fundamental step toward good governance and a vital element in the fostering of democratic processes,” he said.
Olude, however, listed some challenges confronting the commission to include slow digitalisation process, low morale of staff, hard to reach areas without facilities and attitude of some members of staff.
The NPC boss also appealed to the state government to help the agency in the area of recruiting ad-hoc staff to assist NPC staff in registering births at the ward levels.
In their separate remarks, the state’s Commissioners for Information as well as Strategy and Health, Mr Adedayo Adeneye and Dr Babatunde Ipaye respectively, also stressed the importance of birth registration for effective planning.
