In an interview with the Director of Civil Registration and Statistics, NPC, Mr. Matthew Sunday in Abuja, encouraged parents to make sure that their children are registered at birth.

He asserted that Nigeria had a 50% birth registration rate.

Sunday said, “Presently, our percentage coverage as per birth registration is around 50%.

“It may sound that we have done at least 50% but if you look at the remaining 50% yet to be registered, it is very enormous and this is a huge data that the country will need, not just for national planning, but the children will need it because the birth certificate given to children gives them the first identity in life.

“Any child that is not registered is lost, the child is without identity and the child is vulnerable to child trafficking, child labor, early marriage, and the child can be in conflict with the law and will be treated like an adult.

“That notwithstanding, the commission is doing everything to ensure we scale up the coverage because we are not where we want to be.”

The number of under-one birth registration is 963,315 with 524,520 girls and 438,795 boys registered, according to data from RapidSMS, a data tracking platform that gathers and collates real-time information using Short Messaging System for practical analysis.

There are 1,455,767 children registered for births with less than five, including 764,148 girls and 691,619 males.

Additionally, 586,394 births over five years old were reported, with 292,725 girls and 293,669 males.

According to Sunday, the states with the best birth registration rates are Borno, Lagos, Adamawa, Yobe, Kano, Katsina, Oyo, Osun, and the Federal Capital Territory.