The National Population Commission in Osun State has called on parents and guardians in the state to cooperate with hundreds of its volunteers that have been sent out to carryout birth registration.
The state NPC director, Tinuola Adeboye, gave this charge while speaking in Osogbo on Wednesday.
Adeboye disclosed that the commission has trained hundreds of volunteers to various local government areas and wards in the state to capture the information of babies from age zero to five, urging parents and caregivers to attend to them.
She said the ongoing electronic birth registration would capture the name, date, place and time of birth of affected babies, adding that the data of the parents and guardians would also be obtained.
According to Adeboye, the ongoing digital birth registration is supported by the United Nations Children’s Fund, saying that the registration which commenced on August 1, 2024 would end on August 15.
She said volunteers would be visiting homes, worship centres, market places and capture babies’ information, calling on parents to cooperate with them by releasing information of the babies and theirs.
“The electronic birth registration is for children between the age of zero and 18 but currently, we have trained and deployed our volunteers to various local government areas and wards to capture information of babies from age zero to 5. Parents whose wards don’t fall within this age bracket can visit any of our 117 registration centres scattered across the state to register them.
“Our volunteers have started visiting churches, mosques, homes, market places and other areas where they can see children since August 1st and we will be doing this till August 15. These volunteers have been trained on how to capture children. Anyone can visit our registration centre.
“We are partnering with NIN and we are going to link the NIN of the parents to the e-birth registration of their babies. Our data base is stronger now and missing certificate will be re-issued because we are now fully digital. With adequate registration, we will have reliable data that the government will be used for policies and planning. The government won’t work on hearsays or assumptions, it will plan on data. Electronic birth registration will also address issues of multiple registration. You cannot have two certificates because of the digital innovations. We will link it with the NIN of the parents. We are collaborating with UNICEF.
“We have 117 registration centres scattered all over the local government areas and state office for capturing of those who may want to visit us. Volunteers will be going out. We expect parents and caregivers in Osun to cooperate with us. They will take photograph of the babies. They are not fraudsters or scammers. Please, release the information to them. These information include surname, middle name and last name of the child. Our parents should be sure of the information they are giving to volunteers because it will be permanent. The birth order, age of parents are also going to be demanded. When parents are late, we have to approach someone who knows information about the child for the registration,” Adeboye said.
