NPC, UNICEF train 967 officers on e-birth registration in Edo

The National Population Commission (NPC) in collaboration with United Nations Children’s Fund (UNICEF) has commenced training for 967 personnel for e-birth registration of Under-5 children in Edo State.

The training for the 18 Local Government Areas, which was flagged off by Eghe Ogbemudia, the chairman of Egor Local Government Local Council, commenced on July 29, 2024 and would end on August 7, 2024.

Ogbemudia, who was represented by Ekpen Isoken Odemwingie, Secretary, Egor Local Government, noted that e-birth registration of children from 0-5 years would go a long ways in addressing the challenges associated with manual birth certificate.

Ogbemudia, who commended the Nigeria Population Commission and UNICEF for the initiative, said that it would help Government at all levels to plan for its citizens.

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According to him, this programme organized by the NPC in collaboration with UNICEF is aimed at engaging in e-birth registration process throughout the State and to make registration of birth digital.

“Funny enough, we live in a country when you are not a human being until the Government identify you to be a human being. Before you open a bank account they have to give you an identity.

“And, because we don’t have a central registry for it, governments at all level don’t have records of children born everyday in the country.

“It is impossible to plan for people that you thinks does not exist. So, this programme has become so imperative so that if we are able to capture our children of between ages 0-5 years we will know the population we have, the kind of infrastructure we need to invest in, to know how we are investing in education, child protection among others”, she said.

She, however, appealed to the trainees to key into the programme and deploy the knowledge gains for the success of the programme.

Helen Ogohi, Head of Technical, Abuja for Edo State e-birth registration, who described the trainees as the pioneer staff of e-birth registration in the State, urged them to see the training as a personal task.