Birth Registration: 3.5m children ‘invisible’ in South-West, Edo records — Report

Every Nigerian child must be registered — UNICEF

By Chioma Obinna & Rotimi Ojomoyela

No fewer than 3.5 million children under one year across the six South-West states and Edo State have no birth registration, leaving them without legal identity and effectively “invisible” in government records, the United Nations Children’s Fund, UNICEF, has warned.

UNICEF said the huge gap in birth registration could have serious consequences for the affected children, including difficulties accessing education, healthcare and social protection, as well as proving their age and nationality later in life.

Chief, UNICEF Lagos Field Office, Celine Lafoucriere, who disclosed this at a two-day media dialogue on birth registration of children under one year, organised by the Lagos State Office of the National Population Commission, NPC, in collaboration with UNICEF, said every child had a fundamental right to legal identity.