By Aisha Sa’ad
The UNICEF chief, field officer in Kano Mr Rahama Rihood Mohammed Farah said ensuring birth registration of children under age of 5 has been discribed a major way of protecting children and their right.
Mr Rihood Rahaman explain this to newsmen during a meeting with Kano stakeholders on Digital Birth Registration in Kano , held at the Grand Central Hotel Kano on Thursday.
The field officer who was represented by Mr Micheal Banda said Birth Registration has been given great priority in the sustainable development goals.
Mr Micheal Banda noted that though Nigeria has made progress at birth registration, a lot need to be done in ensuring that children under 5 were being registered.
” According to multiple indicator cluster survey(MICS) 2021,only 33 percent of these registered children have a birth certificate.”
He explained that UNICEF is supporting Nigerian Government through the National Population Commission NPC to explore innovative measures and strategies to ensure every child is registered at birth.
”While I congratulate Kano state government on attaining 55% birth registration coverage, I will like to remind all that , more than 45% of children still do not have their birth registration, this is a gap that we must work together to close”
Mr Micheal Banda maintained that UNICEF will not relent in supporting kano government to improve birth registration coverage from 57% to 87% by 2027.
He further said that UNICEF’s Target is to register one million children in Kano state in 2023 using the digital system.
in his remark the Chairman National Population Commission Nasir Isa Kwarra represented by Director Civil Registration , vital statistics Mr Mathew Sunday said NPC is not living any stone unturned in ensuring that every child is being registered.
He added that NPC would continue to partner with stakeholders for the enhancement of Child birth registration in the country.