The National Population Commission (NPC) says that more than 600 volunteers are participating in the online birth registration in Kwara.
Mr Emmanuel Adepoju, State Director of NPC, in an interview with the News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) on Tuesday in Ilorin, said the volunteers were moving from house to house to conduct digital registration for children.
“We have started working in all the 16 Local Government Areas (LGAs) of the state with 96 registrars to supervise the volunteers, as well as controllers, one for each of the LGAs.
“The volunteers capture children that are 5 years old and below in their parents’ house, crèche and religious houses like, Mosques and Churches,” he said.
He noted that the programme was sponsored by United Nations International Children’s Emergency Fund (UNICEF) and focused on children within the age of five years and below.
The director, however, said that registration for children aged 5 years old and above was also ongoing simultaneously.
According to him, some people are resisting capturing, especially the chidlren, with the modality of capturing like taking of photograph and asking personal questions.
“National Orientation Agency (NOA) are collaborating with the commission to sensitise the public on the need for online birth registration.
“We have partnered with traditional rulers, imams and pastors to inform their people on the programme, as well as market women,” he said.
The NPC boss, however, said their target had not been achieved, and appealed to the state government for support.
“The online registration involves lots of financial expenses, especially in mobility and Internet connection which is beyond what UNICEF budgeted.
“So we are appealing to the state government to support us financially in order to meet up with the target.
“The people on the field needs funds for transportation, in order to move from one place to another, especially with the high cost of transportation.
“The advance in technology has made it necessary to introduce online registration and it is in two phases, new registration and upgrade.
“The new registration is for those that have not registered their existence in life and upgrade is for those that have done the manual registration before,” Adepoju said.
Adepoju said the programme was between August and December to ensure that a large number of people registered within the period in order to meet up with their target.
He, however, said that the e-registration would continue after December, but people would visit NPC offices across the state to get registered. (NAN).
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