NIGERIA / BIRTH REGISTRATION

Fewer than 42 percent of Nigeria’s children under the age of 5 have been registered, but a programme linking registration with health services is helping raise registration levels. UNICEF

• Categories: News & Features / News Stories / Unifeed
• Video Length: 00:02:50
• Production Date: 16 July 2013
• Asset Language: Original
• Corporate Name: UNITED NATIONS CHILDREN'S FUND - UNICEF
• Subject Topical: PUBLIC ADMINISTRATION; POPULATION; HUMAN SETTLEMENTS; SOCIAL DEVELOPMENT
• Geographic Subject: NIGERIA
• MAMS Id: U130716b

Description

STORY: NIGERIA / BIRTH REGISTRATION
TRT: 2.50
SOURCE: UNICEF
RESTRICTIONS: NONE
LANGUAGES: ENGLISH / NATS

DATELINE: 17 - 25 APRIL 2013, MAKURDI, BENUE STATE, NIGERIA

Shotlist

1. Wide shot, Lagos
2. Wide shot, traffic
3. Wide shot, Lagos market
5. Close shot, woman planting plant
6. Wide shot, woman planting in field
7. Wide shot, national population commission sign
8. Wide shot, registrar sitting under tree
9. Close shot, registrar sitting under tree
10. Close shot, registrar paging through book
11. SOUNDBITE (English) Peter Ohoja, Registrar, National Population Commission, Ogbadibo, Local Government Authority:
“In the rural areas, the level of registration is low because of lack of understanding, the level of illiteracy, awareness and lack of awareness and the terrain, because you need to get a bike to go to an interior areas to enlighten them and it involves moving round.”
12. Wide shot, community harvesting plants
13. Wide shot, woman sitting with children
15. Wide shot, women waiting at healthcentre
17. Med shot, woman with baby at healthcentre
21. Wide shot, mother breastfeeding baby
22. Wide shot, population chief with cellphone at desk
23. Close shot, rapid SMS on screen
24. Wide shot, registrar at healthcentre with mother
25. Close shot, registrar filling in birth certificate
26. Med shot, registrar with mother
27. SOUNDBITE (English) Elle Onmonya, Mother:
“Its important for my son to have his birth certificate in order for him to identify with his country or nationality – Nigerian.”
28. Wide shot, registrar turning pages and picks up cellphone
29. Close shot, cellphone
30. SOUNDBITE (English) Tindier Ver, Registrar, Yaikyo Local Government Health Clinic, Makundi:
“I put in my own special code, and put the sms and send the data.”
31. Close shot, data on computer screen at national population commission
32. Med shot, Samuel Ugela
33. Close shot, keyboard
34. SOUNDBITE (English) Samuel Ugela, Head of Division at Vital Registration, National Population Commission in Benue State:
“So it is easy now to monitor here in my office more than before and that has increased the registration in the state.”
35. Med shot, computer screen
36. Close shot, white forms
37. Close shot, Rapid SMS screen
38. Wide shot, statistician filling in forms
39. Close shot, statistician filling forms
40. Pan right, piles of forms
41. SOUNDBITE (English) Nuriko Izumi Chief of Child Protection, UNICEF Nigeria: “So that there is very detailed localized data, NpopC can actually make much more specific intervention addressing specific problem areas.”
42. Close shot, rapid SMS on computer screen
43. Wide shot, registrar at healthcentre filling in birth certificate
44. Close shot, registrar filling in birth certificate
45. Wide shot, registrar at healthcentre filling in birth certificate

Storyline

Congested traffic and over-crowded markets gives a clear illustration of why Nigeria is sub-Saharan Africa’s most populous country.

In rural areas such as Benue state, this may be less obvious but remote villages, under-resourced local population councils, and poor data management systems brings to the fore the challenges of documenting Nigeria’s growing number of children.

SOUNDBITE (English) Peter Ohoja, Registrar, National Population Commission, Ogbadibo, Local Government Authority:
“In the rural areas, the level of registration is low because of lack of understanding, the level of illiteracy, awareness and lack of awareness and the terrain, because you need to get a bike to go to an interior areas to enlighten them and it involves moving round.”

As a result, children in rural areas are less likely to be registered then urban children.

Fewer than 42 percent of Nigeria’s children under the age of five have a birth certificate. And UNICEF estimates that Nigeria will see the highest absolute rise in its child population by 2025 of any other country.

Without this simple but valuable document, children can’t legally access social services such as schools, and are vulnerable to abuse such as trafficking.

So to account for this rapidly growing population and address challenges associated with getting children registered, the government through the support of UNICEF and partners has established a monitoring and evaluation system called RapidSMS.

This is how it works:

At the Yaikyo Local Government Health Clinic, Elle Onmonya is getting her son Emmanuel registered.

Emmanuel’s details are filled into a white form.

At the end of a 20 minute consultation, Elle receives her son’s yellow birth registration document.

SOUNDBITE (English) Elle Onmonya, Mother:
“It’s important for my son to have his birth certificate in order for him to identify with his country or nationality Nigerian.”

Twice a month Tintier, one of 3000 registrars across the country will send Emmanuel’s data along with all the other children he’s registered to a central database via SMS.

SOUNDBITE (English) Tindier Ver, Registrar, Yaikyo Local Government Health Clinic, Makundi:
“I put in my own special code, and put the SMS and send the data.”

This data can be viewed on a public dashboard, which is monitored by Samiel Ugela, Head of Division at Vital Registration in Benue State.

SOUNDBITE (English) Samuel Ugela, Head of Division at Vital Registration, National Population Commission in Benue State:
“So it is easy now to monitor here in my office more than before and that has increased the registration in the state.”

Once a month, the white forms are collected from each registrar and sent to the state data collection centre where the information is cross-checked with the SMS data.

Every three months the forms are sent to a data processing center where physical information is transformed into electronic data in the national system.

It is indeed a lengthy one and not without challenges. But for the first time, managers at a local level are able to identify bottlenecks and discrepancies early on.

SOUNDBITE (English) Nuriko Izumi Chief of Child Protection, UNICEF Nigeria:
“Now that there is very detailed localized data, NpopC can actually make much more specific intervention addressing specific problem areas.”

This system provides a clearer picture of the birth registration system, where problems are and how they can be solved, which ultimately translates into more children access their right to a birth certificate.