About 57 Percent Of Nigerian Children Do Not Have Birth Certificates

In a report by the United Nations Children's Fund (UNICEF), around 57 percent of children in Nigeria do not possess birth certificates.

These children, according to the report, are below the age of five years.

This was stated by UNICEF's Zone A Field Office child protection specialist in Enugu, Victor Atuchukwu, in Awka.

Atuchukwu said that the birth certificate was important for proper documentation, and that owning one was a right.

“It is the right of every child to have a birth certificate, but many parents did not consider it important. Without birth certificate, time would come when the child would discover that he or she had no official record of vital information," he said.

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Supporting Atuchukwu's words was the Director of the National Population Commission (NPC) in Enugu, Joachim Ulasi, who said, “We just have 148 registration centres, comprising 21 controllers who are deputy chief registrars for the 21 local government areas. If they are removed from the 148, we are left with 127, which are located in health facilities throughout Anambra State. This number is not enough. We have 181 autonomous communities and we need at least one centre in each community while the large communities should have two or more.”