The United Nations Children’s Fund (UNICEF) and National Population Commission (NPC) have rolled out birth registration of one million children in Kano in 2023 using the digital system.

Speaking at a two-day stakeholders’ engagement meeting in Kano on Thursday, UNICEF’s Kano chief of field office, Rahama Farah, said the exercise targeted the birth registration of one million children in 2023.

Mr Farah said the right to be recognised as a person before the law was a critical step in ensuring lifelong protection.

According to him, it’s also a prerequisite for exercising all other rights.

“Most societies first acknowledge a child’s existence and identity through birth registration. Birth registration, therefore, helps to protect children and their rights from birth,” he said.

Mr Farah added that Goal 16 of the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs), which states that “by 2030, provide legal identity for all, including birth registration,” placed birth registration firmly on the international development agenda.

The UNICEF officer disclosed that Nigeria had made progress at birth registration, but much work remained to be done, pointing out that the Multiple Indicator Cluster Survey (MICS) 2021 revealed about one in four births of Nigerian children aged under five years are not registered.

“MICS 2021 survey also shows that only 33 per cent of these registered children have a birth certificate,” he explained.

According to Mr Farah, UNICEF supports the Nigerian government through the NPC to explore innovative measures and strategies to ensure every child is registered at birth.

He commended the Kano government on attaining 55 per cent birth registration coverage and pledged to work together to close the 45 per cent gap.

Mr Farah explained that the meeting with stakeholders aimed to enlist the support of everyone to enable them to meet their target to ensure every child is registered and certified at birth.

(NAN)