The National Population Commission (NPC) in Sokoto State has called on parents, traditional institutions, religious leaders and other stakeholders to fully support the ongoing electronic birth registration exercise aimed at improving Nigeria’s civil registration system.

The Federal Commissioner representing Sokoto State at the NPC, Alhaji Abdullahi Chiso Dattijo, made the appeal during an awareness workshop organised to promote the Electronic Civil Registration and Vital Statistics (E-CRVS) system.

Dattijo described the initiative as a significant step toward ensuring that every child in the state is officially registered, protected and recognised by law.

According to him, the digital registration platform is designed to guarantee accurate and timely recording of births and deaths through a secure, efficient and technology-driven process.

“This initiative represents a major milestone in Nigeria’s efforts to modernise civil registration and improve the generation of vital statistics,” he said.

He explained that birth registration goes beyond a legal obligation, noting that it provides citizens with legal identity and supports government planning in healthcare, education, social protection, security and economic development.

Dattijo said that although progress has been recorded in civil registration across the country, many births and deaths remain undocumented, limiting access to essential services and weakening the quality of demographic data required for effective national planning.

He added that the new digital platform would ensure faster and more efficient registration services, improve accuracy, reduce paperwork and processing time, and enhance the security and integrity of records.

The commissioner further noted that the platform would integrate with other government digital systems, thereby strengthening Nigeria’s national identity ecosystem and improving public service delivery.

In his remarks, the NPC State Director, Salihu Ladan, urged parents, guardians and the general public to take advantage of the electronic registration platform and ensure that all births are properly documented.

He also called on traditional and religious leaders to champion the exercise by encouraging families within their communities to register every newborn child.

Ladan commended UNICEF for its continued support to the commission, particularly for providing digital printers to NPC offices in all the 23 local government areas of Sokoto State.