Politics
THE National Population Commission (NPC) and National Orientation Agency (NOA), on Thursday, began a sensitisation campaign on birth registration in Kaduna North Local Government area of Kaduna State.
Mr Hamza Muhammad, the NPC Controller in the council area, said that the purpose of the campaign was to create awareness and speak with community members on the importance of birth registration and collection of birth certificates.
“Most people are not aware of birth registration; they assume that the National Population Commission only conducts census, while few people, who knew about it, thought it had to be paid for but we have made them know that it is free.
“Birth certificates issued by hospitals or other health centres are for their own official use. It can’t be used to process things like school admissions and bank accounts, among others,” he said.
Muhammad urged members of the community to register their children at NPC centres and primary health care centres in the local government.
Earlier, the NOA Community Mobilisation Officer in Kaduna North, Hajiya Sa’adatu Aliyu, said that the community dialogue was aimed at reorienting the community on the importance of birth registration, adding that children of age five and below would be registered.
The News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) reports that the campaign was tagged: “Community dialogue reorientation and grassroots dialogue on an improved birth registration in 60 local communities of six local government areas: registration of under five years old children in Kaduna State.”
NAN also reports that the programme is supported by the state government and the United Nations Children’s Education Fund (UNICEF).
Some of the participants expressed appreciation to NOA and NPC for the community dialogue, saying that they would share the knowledge learned to their loved ones.
Auwal Idris, a traditional title holder, said that he had learnt the importance of birth registration and would ensure that the message got across to his subjects.
Rabiatu Hassan, another community member, said that she had learnt the importance of registering children with NPC, assuring that she would disseminate the information to her neighbours and relatives.
NAN
– Feb. 22, 2021 @ 18:59 GMT /
Tags: NOA sensitise Kaduna North community on birth registration NPC
