The commencement of migration of birth and death certificates from manual to full digital registration by the National Population Commission NPC in Niger state marked the next critical step in its collective efforts to build a modern, efficient and technology_ driven civic registration system that meets international standards and supports President Bola Ahmed Tinubu Renewed Hope Agenda.
Chairman National Population Commission NPC, Dr Aminu Yusuf Wushishi stated this in a message to the historic commencement of the digital birth and death registration, held at the Federal Secretariat complex Minna, the Niger state capital.
Represented by the state Director of NPC in Niger state, Alh Musa Yusuf Sabo the National Chairman explained that the digital innovation is one of the transformative reforms in the history of Civic Registration in Nigeria, which reflect the Commission’s unwavering commitment to leveraging technology to improve service delivery, strengthen data integrity and guarantee that every birth and death occuring in Nigeria is documented accurately and securely.
Dr Aminu Yusuf said Nigeria records an estimated five million birth annually, yet millions of these births and deaths go unregistered, stressing that birth registration coverage currently stood at about fifty seven percent nationwide, while death registration is below twenty percent, and these gaps deprive many Nigerians of legal identity and limit the availability of reliable data needed for effective national planning.
According to him to address the challenges NPC has established four thousand and eleven functional registration centres across the seven hundred and seventy four Local Government Areas in Nigeria and is working assiduously to expand this network to about eight thousand centres.
He said as they commence this new phase of full digital transition, services will progressively be delivered through the VitalReg platform to guarantee greater efficiency, transparency and improved service delivery to all Nigerians, which aligns with the Federal Government’s broader digital transformation agenda and strengthens the country’s efforts towards an integrated and inclusive national identity management system.
Dr Aminu Yusuf also gave an assurance that the National Population Commission remain fully committed to strengthening Civic Registration and Vital Statistics as a key pillar of the Seven_point Agenda, particularly in the areas of digital transformation, data quality, stakeholders engagement and improved service delivery.
COV ALIYU LAWAL.
