Kano: NPC records 36,000 births in nine months

The National Population Commission (NPC) has recorded more than 36,000 births in Kano State within nine months following the deployment of its electronic birth registration system.

The Kano State Director of NPC, Balarabe Kabir, disclosed this during a two-day State Refresher Training of Trainers held in Kano.

Kabir said the training was organised by the NPC in collaboration with the Association of Local Governments of Nigeria and the National Identity Management Commission (NIMC), with support from the Government of the Netherlands through the United Nations Children’s Fund.

He stated that 27,000 children under the age of five and over 40,000 above five years, who were previously unregistered, have now been documented under the initiative.

According to him, the training brought together ALGON focal persons and District Civil Registrars from across the 44 local government areas of the state to enhance their capacity in the use of the Vital Registration application for electronic civil registration.

Kabir noted that the figures represent only a portion of the total number of children captured so far, adding that a step-down training would be conducted for ward registrars across the 484 wards in the state.

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He, however, identified several challenges affecting implementation, including system downtime, login issues, delays in National Identification Number (NIN) validation, and inadequate support for field registrars, particularly in hard-to-reach areas.

The NPC director emphasised that birth registration remains a fundamental right of every child and is critical for effective government planning, security, and access to social services.

He called on stakeholders, including traditional rulers and corporate organisations, to support ongoing efforts to ensure that every child is duly registered.