NYSC: Corps Members To Partner UNICEF, NPC On Digital Birth Registration

The National Youth Service Corps (NYSC) has revealed that 800 corps members would be enlisted for the digital birth registration exercise alongside the United Nations Children’s Fund (UNICEF) and the National Population Commission (NPC).

This comes after the Scheme's partnership with UNICEF and NPC for the registration of 12.7 million births in 2023.

The partnership will also contain the issuance of birth certificates that provide the names and nationality of every child in Nigeria, under the age of 5, in 21 states, 456 local government areas, and 4,978 wards across the country.

Dr Ibrahim Sesay, UNICEF's Chief of Child Protection, disclosed this while leading a team of officials of the agency and the NPC, to sign a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) with the NYSC at the National Directorate Headquarters in Abuja on Wednesday.

A statement by NYSC noted that Dr Sesay said “800 Corps members would be enlisted for the exercise and would work alongside the National Population Commission officials”.

While expressing optimism for the success of the partnership, he stated that the registration of births and birth certificates are the legal identities of every Nigerian and that the data of every child would be stored in the digital birth registration system in the custody of the NPC.

Meanwhile, NYSC Director of Corps Welfare and Health Services, Omotade Ayodele, disclosed that the MoU between the NYSC and UNICEF/NPC would be led by UNICEF, adding that “the scheme is willing to partner with organisations that are prepared to contribute to national development”.

The NYSC Director General, Brigadier General Yusha’u Ahmed, represented by the Director of Community Development Service and Special Projects, Zainab Isah, while applauding the initiative, called for adequate security and proper compensation for the Corps Members that would be involved in the exercise.

Also, the DG of the NPC, Dr Tellson Osifo, expressed the enthusiasm of the commission for cooperation.