NANFeatures/Vol.12/No.101/2018 (Sept. 4)
Boosting birth registration via sustained partnership
A News Analysis by Mufutau Ojo, News Agency of Nigeria (NAN)
It was the late Kofi Anan, a former Secretary-General of the United Nations, who noted in one of his cerebral remarks that “ without data, we are flying blind.’’
This appears to underscore Nigeria’s current efforts to rev up the birth registration campaign across the 36 states of the federation and the Federal Capital Territory.
At the heart of this sustained campaign is the National Population Commission backed by the United Nations Children Education Fund (UNICEF) and a welter of eager partners, which include the Nigerian media.
There is indeed cause for Nigeria to take seriously Anan’s immortal words given the startling statistics of many births across the country which are largely unregistered.
According to the 2013 Demographic Health Survey, birth registration of children less than five years of age in Nigeria is approximately 30 per cent while the remaining 70 per cent remain unregistered.
If the simple definition of birth registration is to be placed in its legal context, 70 percent of unregistered Nigerians simply do not exist!
The 2014 United Nations Statistics Department defines birth registration “as the continuous, permanent, compulsory, and universal recording of the occurrence and characteristics of births, as provided by decree or regulation in accordance with the legal requirements in each country.’’
Placing this definition in proper perspective, the National Population Commission (NPC) describes birth registration as “the permanent and official record of a child’s existence by the government and is fundamental to the realisation of children’s rights and practical needs.’’
Against the background of the need to boost the country’s birth registration campaign, critical stakeholders gathered in Lagos recently for a media dialogue sponsored by UNICEF to chart a new road map which would encourage more Nigerians to register the birth of their children.
Speaking at the forum, the Minister of Information and Culture, Alhaji Lai Mohammed, observed that sustained media campaign at various levels would boost birth registration coverage in the country.
The minister, who was represented by Mr Olumide Osanyinpeju, a Deputy Director in the ministry and Head of Advocacy, Child Rights Information Bureau, believes birth registration is crucial, especially for children in rural areas.
“The need to give identity to every Nigerian child is a task that can only be achieved through birth registration,’’ the minister adds.
Taking a hard look at the slow pace of birth registration in the country, the minister identifies impeding factors to include ignorance of the importance of registration of births, large number of babies born at home rather than in health facilities and lack of manpower needed to register the births of most children.
Mohammed says these challenges have resulted in lack of planning and improper capturing of this most important segment of the society in the developmental and social processes that affect them.
He believes that workable solutions to weak knowledge could begin from homes and communities through a wide spread media campaign aimed at creating awareness at all levels of governance and civil society.
The minister also canvasses for improved partnership with the healthcare sector, saying this could significantly enhance coverage of birth registration services and the filling of a large human resource gap in the NPC.
He further advocates promotion of registration of children when and where they are born and within the first year of their life when parents bring their children for immunisation services.
It may well be that the lukewarm attitude of some Nigerians to birth registration is hinged on ignorance about its benefits.
In her view, NPC Vital Registration Director Hapsatu Isiyaku says formal registration confers nationality on a child.
“Securing children’s right to a nationality will allow them to get a passport, open a bank account, obtain credit, vote and find employment.
“It helps ensure access to basic services, including immunisation, healthcare and school enrolment at the right age.
“Birth registration is also essential in ensuring that children in conflict with the law are not treated (legally and practically) as adults.
“It will shield them from underage military service or conscription; counter child marriage and reduce trafficking, among other problems,’’ she said.
Sharing similar sentiments, Mrs Sharon Oladiji, a Child Protection Specialist with UNICEF, said that the innovative RapidSMS had become a critical tool in the birth registration campaign.
Explaining the workings of the innovation, Oladiji said: “the RapidSMS is an information tracking tool that collects data over SMS or Text Messages from mobile users.
“RapidSMS allows data to be collected in real time to enable local government areas states, Federal Government and partners to collect, analyse and react to data more quickly.
“The RapidSMS online database system was introduced in 2011 as a tool for monitoring birth registration cases at the registrar level.
“This system allows real-time tracking of local and regional birth registration activities in the 774 local government areas across the country.
“It is designed to help identify disparities in service delivery and facilitate prompt, evidence-based responses to areas where birth registration levels are low,’’ she explained.
She observed further that until the advent of the RapidSMS in 2011, assessment of birth registration status and coverage was largely limited to data from population-based national surveys such as the Demographic and Health Survey or NPC’s birth registry which many saw as ineffective in improving or monitoring birth registration.
Oladiji, however, said that the RapidSMS would help identify the gaps in birth registration data report at the local level and disparities in service delivery.
“It aims to facilitate prompt interventions in areas where birth registration coverage is low, and to measure how programmatic interventions affect birth registration levels.
“UNICEF is assisting the Federal Government — NPC– to improve collection, collation, management and use of birth registration data and providing technical back-end management support (through local level consultants) to ensure optimal functionality of the RapidSMS dashboard and applications.
“The use of RapidSMS to monitor birth registration has challenged an organisational culture of non-accountability.
“As a decentralised and real-time monitoring system, RapidSMS provides constant feedback from the local government areas to the state and national level managers which enables them to make programmatic changes and assess the results,’’ she explained.
The UNICEF official said that that the country “is already harnessing the gains of the RapidSMS as birth registration services have been significantly strengthened
“The RapidSMS dashboard is also helping to improve data acquisition and analysis including registration coverage.
“Furthermore, appropriate levels of information for birth registration are filtered and automated data analysis and values for birth registration coverage by local government areas and states are shown at a glance,’’ she noted.
Observers note that in spite of the efforts of UNICEF, NPC and partnering stakeholders, there are still many challenges still dogging the birth registration efforts which government would do well to tackle.
Isiyaku expressed concern that “birth registration is still being manually done while there is inadequate storage facilities for working materials’’.
She also said that that the local government areas had many localities which were sparsely distributed with the registrar faced with dire spectre of navigating through a catchment area without adequate logistics.
“Insufficient workforce to adequately provide birth registration services across the country as well as inadequate office accommodation are other challenges facing the commission in the birth registration campaign,’’ she observed.
Isiyaku, who called for sustained collaboration with UNICEF, also canvassed the urgent need to migrate from analogue to digital registration.
Participants at the forum observed that if the current campaign is an eye opener, there are indeed limitless opportunities finally open for the country through birth registration to tackle child trafficking and confront the intractable age fraud in the civil service, among other benefits.(NANFeatures)
**If used, please credit the writer as well as News Agency of Nigeria (NAN)