The National Population Commission (NpopC) says it has begun the registration of children from age zero to five in Jema’a, Kaduna South and Zaria Local Government Areas (LGAs) of Kaduna State.
An Assistant Comptroller of NpopC in Zaria, Mr Nasir Muhammad-Shafi’i, said this in an interview with the News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) in Kaduna on Tuesday.
Muhammad-Shafi’i said the 10-day exercise, which started on Nov. 25, was targetting 18,000 children in 30 communities.
He said there were 11 registration centres in the three LGAs and that each was expected to register 500 children.
According to him, the birth certificate issued by NpopC is the only document recognised by the constitution.
Muhammad-Shafi’i also said that registration of births helps government in getting accurate data on the number of births.
Halima Abdulrahman, an NpopC officer posted to Unguwan Alkali Primary Health Centre, said that 200 children had so far registered at the centre.
Abdulrahman said: “The process is free and easy. We are targeting 500 but have so far done 200.
“The turn out today is low compared to days of immunisation at this center.
She said that part of the challenges faced during the exercise was that some parents usually had difficulties giving the exact date of birth of their children, especially those born at home.
A parent, Rahina Abubakar, who came to register her four-month son, said she was delivered at home and had no knowledge about registration of birth.
Abubakar said she got to know about it recently when she took her eldest child to hospital for check up.
Also, Aisha Muhammed said she got birth certificate for her daughter from the hospital where she was born.
Muhammed, however, said she needed a birth certificate from the NpopC because of its recognition by the constitution.
“The registration is stress free. I just answered some few questions about myself and my baby and then I was issued the birth certificate within few minutes,” she said. (NAN)
