Key points
- UNICEF says about 3.5 million children remain unregistered across Lagos, Ogun, Oyo, Osun, Ondo, Ekiti and Edo states.
- The organisation warned that the lack of legal identity could limit children’s access to education, healthcare, inheritance, passports and other essential rights.
- UNICEF described birth registration as the legal foundation for protecting a child’s identity, rights and future.
- The organisation urged journalists to use human-centred reporting to increase public awareness and registration rates.
- NPC said reliable birth registration data is critical for effective planning in education, healthcare, housing and social protection.
- Stakeholders called for greater decentralisation of registration services and stronger coordination among identity-management agencies.
- Parents and caregivers were urged to register children within the first year of life.
Main Story
The United Nations Children’s Fund (UNICEF) has warned that the absence of legal identity continues to put about 3.5 million unregistered children across seven states at risk of being excluded from essential services and opportunities.
UNICEF Chief of Lagos Field Office, Celine Lafoucriere, raised the concern at a two-day Birth Registration Media Dialogue organised by the National Population Commission (NPC) in collaboration with UNICEF in Sangotedo, Lagos.
The dialogue, themed “Giving Every Child a Legal Identity by Driving Birth Registration in Nigeria,” brought together journalists from the South-West and Edo State to strengthen media advocacy for the registration of children below one year.
Lafoucriere described birth registration as more than an administrative process, saying it provides the legal foundation upon which a child’s identity, rights and future are established.
She said millions of children across Lagos, Ogun, Oyo, Osun, Ondo, Ekiti and Edo remain absent from official government records despite being alive and, in many cases, being born in health facilities.
According to her, children without birth certificates can face barriers to education, healthcare, passports, inheritance and other rights, including participation in civic life when they reach adulthood.
UNICEF also urged the media to move beyond reporting registration statistics and produce human-centred stories that can influence public attitudes and encourage parents to register their children.
The Issues
The central issue is the gap between the number of children born in Nigeria and the number whose births are formally recorded.
Without birth registration, children can become effectively invisible to government systems, making it more difficult to establish their legal identity and ensure access to public services.
The problem also has implications for governance. Without reliable demographic data, governments face challenges in accurately determining population needs and planning for schools, healthcare, social protection and other public services.
Another challenge is public awareness. UNICEF said many parents are unaware that birth registration is free or that it can be completed at health facilities and community registration points.
Access is also a concern, particularly for families in underserved communities. Stakeholders are therefore advocating decentralised registration services and stronger integration between civil registration and national identity systems.
What’s Being Said
Celine Lafoucriere, Chief, UNICEF Lagos Field Office
Lafoucriere said birth registration should be viewed as a fundamental child-protection mechanism rather than simply an administrative requirement.
“A birth certificate is not a piece of paper. It is a child’s ticket into school.”
She said journalists could help bridge information gaps preventing parents from registering their children.
“Your stories can bridge that information gap.”
Denis Onoise, UNICEF Child Protection Specialist
Onoise said an effective civil registration and legal identity system was essential to protecting individual rights and supporting national development.
He explained that birth registration establishes legally recognised information about a child’s identity, including name, sex, place and date of birth, while generating demographic data required for government planning.
He identified stronger birth and death registration processes, interoperability among identity-management agencies, decentralisation and improved accessibility as key objectives of the partnership supporting the initiative.
Abiola Kekere-Ekun, Lagos State Director, NPC
Kekere-Ekun urged journalists to take birth registration advocacy directly to communities rather than limiting their coverage to government activities.
He said reliable demographic data was indispensable for effective governance and called on parents and caregivers to register every child within the first year of life.
He described legal identity as a gateway to citizenship, inclusion and lifelong access to rights and opportunities.
What’s Next
The NPC and its partners are expected to intensify public awareness campaigns and expand community-level birth registration, particularly in areas with large numbers of unregistered children.
The media is also expected to play a greater role in educating parents about the availability and accessibility of registration services while holding relevant institutions accountable for delivering efficient services.
The partnership will continue efforts to strengthen birth and death registration, improve interoperability among identity-management agencies and decentralise registration services.
The initiative involves the NPC, Association of Local Governments of Nigeria (ALGON), National Identity Management Commission (NIMC), UNICEF and Barnksforte Technologies Ltd., developers of the electronic Civil Registration and Vital Statistics (eCRVS) platform.
Bottom Line
The estimated 3.5 million unregistered children across seven states represent more than a statistical gap—they represent children whose legal identities and access to essential rights may be compromised. UNICEF and NPC are therefore pushing for stronger community-level registration, public awareness and digital integration, while calling on the media to turn birth registration from a bureaucratic process into a national child-protection priority.
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