A non-governmental organisation, IA Foundation, has commended the United Nations International Children’s Emergency Fund (UNICEF) for the electronic birth registration initiative in Nigeria.
Recall that UNICEF, in collaboration with the National Population Commission (NPC), incorporated the National Identification Number (NIN) into digital birth registration in Nigeria.
It stated also that the new e-birth registration will give a child an identity and the opportunity to be a Nigerian citizen.
In her commendation statement, the Founder of the Foundation, Mrs Ibironke Adeagbo, described the initiative as an enabler of better accountability for out-of-school children.
She noted that such initiative will foster easy identification of out-of-school children yet to be enrolled in school despite age attainment.
According to her, the initiative in conjuction with the ongoing related Bills at the Senate will curb out-of-school children menace in Nigeria.
“AI Foundation commends the recent e-birth registration initiative advocated by UNICEF, which aims to target 13 million registrations in Nigeria .
“This initiative will enable us to better account for out-of-school children, allowing the government to easily identify children who are not enrolled in school despite attaining school age.
“This, combined with the Bills to penalise parents who do not send their children to school reaching their second reading (stage) will serve as a silver bullet in addressing the out-of-school children issue in Nigeria,” she stated.
