The National Population Commission, NPC has said that birth certificates issued by local governments and hospitals are not acceptable for official purposes in Nigeria.
The commission insisted that only birth certificates it issued are acceptable as it remains the only agency legally authorised to issue the document in the country.
The NPC Director of Ebonyi State, Edward Ogbu, revealed this during a review meeting and retraining programme of the state’s health facility workers on birth registration service delivery.
The meeting, which was held with the support and collaboration of the United Nations Children Fund, UNICEF, took place at Citi Hub Events Centre in Abakaliki, the state capital.
The review meeting was attended by health workers from all the local government areas of Ebonyi State.
Ogbu solicited the help of government and health workers in mobilizing parents to register births of their children.
The head of UNICEF field office, Enugu zone, Ibrahim Conteh, who was represented by Mr Victor Atuchukwu expressed regrets that records of child registration in the country was still very low.
Referring to the national demographic health survey, 2018; Conteh said 57% of children in Nigeria do not have their births registered.
He noted that of the 43% registered births in the country, only 62% were registered with NPC; “26% are registered with private clinic/hospitals, 9% are registered with Local Government Administration, while 3% are registered with other authorities”.