Civil Registration, Vital Statistics: NPC restates commitment to taking leadership

Civil Registration, Vital Statistics: NPC restates commitment to taking leadership

National Population Commission (NPC) has restated its commitment to taking leadership and ownership of Civil Registration and Vital Statistics (CRVS).

Its Executive Chairman, Alhaji Nasir Kwarra, said this at the commemoration of the African Civil Registration and Vital Statistics Day in Abuja on Wednesday.

The News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) reports that the day is celebrated on Aug. 10 every year to raise public awareness of the importance of timely registration of vital events, particularly births and deaths, through well-functioning civil registration and vital statistics systems.

It is a special day for Africans to celebrate their heritage, particularly with regard to the recognition of legal identity from birth to death of all persons.

It is also to recognise the affirmation of key human and civil rights, including the right to recognition under the law, the right to participate in society and the economy, and the right to access social services.

The day has “Harnessing Coordination, Country Leadership and Ownership to Strengthen Integrated Civil Registration and Vital Statistics Systems: Vehicle for #countingEveryone” as its theme.

The NPC executive chairman, therefore, said “the commission is committed to taking leadership and ownership in strengthening the civil registration and vital statistics systems.

“The theme speaks to the imperative of a strong institutional and effective leadership and strategies to emphasise our coordination efforts.”

Kwarra, however, is assured of readiness to drive leadership in strengthening, not only integration with all other sectors but plans to have a transformed integrated and digitalised civil registration and vital statistics systems.

He said there would be improved data for effective policy formulation, decision making and good governance.

He added that “in doing so, a conscious effort should be made to ensure that Civil Registration and Vital Registration System enjoys broad-based support that leverages development in information technology.”

He said that the NPC, in line with its statutory mandate to establish a universal and compulsory system of registration of vital events, would continue to provide leadership for credible performance.

He noted that “from its humble beginning of manual registration, the commission has carefully navigated initial teething challenges and is at the thick of an effective transformation from manual to wholly automated CVRS system in Nigeria.”

He affirmed that the commemoration was a demonstration of the commission’s resolve to give civil registration the attention it deserved.

Dr Ismaila Suleiman, the Chairman of the Standing Committee for Civil Registration and Vital Statistics (CRVS), said that the exercise was aimed at encouraging birth and death registration.

Suleiman expressed the imperatives of legalising identity for social and economic activities.

The Chief Child Protection Officer, UNICEF, Mr Ibrahim Sese, expressed satisfaction over the attention being given to Civil Registration and Vital Statistics in Nigeria.

Sese, who was represented by Mrs Sharon Oladiji, commended NPC for supporting UNICEF in the area of coordination.

He assured them of the establishment of the CRVS National Coordination Committee aimed at strengthening the digitisation process through automated technology.