The National Population Commission (NPC) has commenced a free birth registration exercise for children between the ages of zero and five in Delta.

Blessyn Brume-Ataguba, NPC federal commissioner, said at a press briefing on Wednesday, that the birth registration exercise would enhance planning, governance and service delivery.

Mrs Brume-Ataguba said that the free birth registration was a collaborative effort between NPC, UNICEF and the office of Nigeria’s first lady.

She said that the exercise was to ensure proper registration of births and to pave the way for improved governance, planning and service delivery.

The commissioner said that the role of the Civic Registration and Vital Statistics System (CRVS) in effective governance could not be overemphasised.

She said that the NPC, as the custodian of vital records, was responsible for transforming the CRVS system into models of accuracy, accessibility, and inclusiveness.

“It is our mandate to ensure that every birth, death and significant life events are recorded accurately and promptly. They form the foundation upon which legal identity is established, ” she said.

She urged development partners and other stakeholders to support the commission in the actualisation of the free birth registration exercise.

“Parents and guardians are urged to cooperate with the commission’s personnel who are engaged to carry out the exercise.

“We have trained 1,198 ad-hoc staff to carry out the exercise in the 25 local government areas of the state.

”Unless a person is registered, they do not exist in the eyes of the state. Registration allows you to establish and protect identities, citizenship and property rights,” she said.

In his remarks, the state director of NPC, Patrick Lotobi, said the first attempt at birth registration in Nigeria was through the promulgation of Ordinance No 21, at the Lagos Colony in 1863.

“However, the first consensus to have a universal system of registration of births and deaths in Nigeria was in 1979.

“The federal government, in search of an alternative source of demographic data, promulgated the Birth and Death Compulsory Registration Decree, now Act 39 of 1979,” he said.

In her part, the state director, the National Orientation Agency, Tracy Ikolomi, said that the agency would carry out a robust campaign to sensitise the people to the importance of birth registration.

(NAN)