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Tag: Birth Certificates

  • Only under-18 will be issued birth certificate — NPC

    Only under-18 will be issued birth certificate — NPC

    The National Population Commission (NPC) says birth certificates will not be issued to persons older than 18 years of age.

    The NPC State Director Oyo State, Mr Akin Oyetunde, stated on Tuesday in Ibadan that this is according to Act 1992 Birth and Death.

    He said “The NPC is guided by an Act propagated in 1992, so, any child born before 1992 will not be issued birth certificate.

    “Instead of birth certificate, people born before 1992 and those above 18 years will be given Attestation of Birth.

    “However, those below 18 years will be issued birth certificate by the commission.”

    The Oyo State director added that all local governments in the state have birth and death registration centres.

    He explained that “every local government has its own birth and death registration centres. No local government has less
    than three registration centres.

    “The certificates issued at the centres are the same everywhere and acceptable wherever it’s tendered.”

    On the postponed National Population and Housing Census earlier slated for 2023, Oyetunde said everything was set for the exercise.

    He said “we are prepared and only need the Federal Government to give the go-ahead. All materials for the exercise have been
    distributed to local governments.

    “All those who are to take part in the census have been trained, all is set to hit the ground running.”

  • Birth certificates issued by LGs, hospitals not acceptable for official use – NPC

    Birth certificates issued by LGs, hospitals not acceptable for official use – NPC

    The National Population Commission (NPC) has said that all birth certificates issued by local governments and hospitals are not acceptable for official purposes in the country.

    According to the Commission, only birth certificates issued by NPC is acceptable as the commission is the only agency legally authorised to issue such documents in the country.

    The Ebonyi State Director of NPC, Edward Ogbu stated this during a review meeting and retraining of Ebonyi State health facility workers on birth registration service delivery.

    The meeting, which was held with support and collaboration of the United Nations Children Fund, (UNICEF) took place at Citi Hub Events Centre in Abakaliki, capital of the state with health workers from all the local governments and health facilities in the state in attendance.

    Mr. Ogbu solicited the help of government and health workers in the mobilisation of parents to register their children.

    In a keynote address, the UNICEF Chief of Field office Enugu, Ibrahim Conteh lamented that recent records show that child registration in the country is still very low.

    Quoting the National Demographic Health Survey 2018, Mr. Conteh said that 57 percent of children in Nigeria do not have their births registered.

    Represented by a Child Protection Specialist with UNICEF, Enugu, Mr. Victor Atuchukwu, the UNICEF Chief said that of the 43 percent registered births only 62 percent are registered with NPC.

    “26 percent are registered with private clinic/hospitals, nine percent are registered with Local Government Administration while three percent are registered with other authorities,” he said.

    Mr. Conteh noted that non-registration of new born child has a lot of disadvantages to the child, the community and the country in general.

    According to him non-registration of children’s births puts their access to basic service under threat.

    “Their official ‘invisibility’ increases their vulnerability to abuse and exploitation

    and violations of their rights go unnoticed. In legal terms they do not exist,” he added.

  • I was born in hospital where they don’t issue birth certificates – SGF, Boss Mustapha

    I was born in hospital where they don’t issue birth certificates – SGF, Boss Mustapha

    Secretary to the Government of the Federation (SGF), Boss Mustapha, has described as misleading reports quoting him as saying he was not aware of the bad state of the nation’s healthcare system.

    Reports had on Thursday quoted Mustapha, who is also the Chairman of the Presidential Task Force (PTF) on the Novel Coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic, as claiming to be oblivious of the state of the nation’s healthcare system until the advent of COVID-19, during a meeting with the National Assembly.

    However, during the PTF’s daily media briefing in Abuja on Friday, Mustapha said he was quoted out of context, adding that what had been spread in the media did not reflect his intent or what he actually said.

    According to him, his conversation with the leadership of the National Assembly was that his task as the leader of the PTF had made him fully aware of the state of the nation’s healthcare system.

    Mustapha affirmed he was not just an urban politician but one who had close contacts with his rural base in his home state and well informed of the daily experience of his people, even in terms of healthcare provision.

    “Yesterday (Thursday), I mentioned at the National Assembly that I became fully aware of the state of our medical system during the execution of this Task Force assignment. It has become clear that this has been taken out of context.

    “I must clarify that I am aware and has indeed been a champion for the reform and transformation of the health care system. However, this PTF assignment has afforded me the opportunity to dig deeper, interrogate and x-ray the system better.

    “So for anyone to think that I didn’t know the level of deplorable state of our healthcare systems, is a complete misrepresentation.

    “For the benefit of those who do not know me well, I come from rural Nigeria. I was born in a village almost 64 years ago that didn’t even have a hospital, it had small missionary dispensary probably with one midwife, no birth certificate was offered. So I don’t even have birth certificate, I have declaration of age.

    “A lot of you sitting here are privileged to have been born in a better and more equipped medical facilities. So from birth I know the state of our medical, healthcare, I am not a foreigner.

    “My statement was totally taken out of context because that was not the reflection of what I said. But having to serve in this committee gave me a further insight into what is happening.

    “Most of the things you see around as specialists, hospitals or clinics, you just see the buildings, you don’t know what is inside. But, being in this committee has given me opportunity of walking into these facilities, looking at what they have in relation to what they ought to have, my conclusion on that is that they don’t have what they ought to have.

    “I wanted to give this explanation so that most of you will not think I am an ajebota, no. I was born a rural Nigerian, I grew up in rural Nigeria, I went to school in rural Nigeria and I still live in rural Nigeria.

    “Yola is my home, I’m just on a journey here in Abuja. At the end of my work or whatever I am doing here, I will return home which is rural Nigeria and I am going to live with the facilities in rural Nigeria.

    “The truth of the matter is that this is not the time to be distracted with unnecessary controversies,” he said.