In a significant move towards modernizing and enhancing civil registration in Nigeria, President Bola Ahmed Tinubu is set to launch a comprehensive birth, death, and marriage registration portal on Wednesday. The announcement was made by the Chairman of the National Population Commission (NPC), Nasir Kwarra, during a pre-launch briefing on Monday.
The newly introduced registration system encompasses a wide range of civil registrations, including birth registration, stillbirth registration, birth attestation, adoption, marriage notification, divorce notification, migration, and death. This all-encompassing portal is a part of the government’s commitment to strengthening the collection, collation, processing, dissemination, and timely access to vital statistics related to various life events in the country.
Nasir Kwarra highlighted the significance of this initiative, stating, “The launch of the e-CRVS by Tinubu marks the commitment of the current government and leadership to strengthen civil registration data capturing, collation, processing, dissemination, and timely access to statistics on vital events in the country. It aims to accelerate the improved civil registration and vital statistics systems in Nigeria over 10 years, from 2023 to 2030 in a bid to achieve the Sustainable Development Goal.”
The Chairman emphasized the collaborative effort between the National Population Commission and the United Nations Children’s Fund (UNICEF) in developing the e-CRVS Operational Readiness Assessment Report. This report has revealed the potential of digital technologies to bring transformative outcomes to the Civil Registration and Vital Statistics (CRVS) sector, highlighting the importance of securely storing data at scale in a cost-effective manner within Nigeria.
Nasir Kwarra further explained that the new system will provide digital certificates in all cases, offer an accessible verification platform for registered organizations, and include a central management system (dashboard) designed to depict and analyze the collated civil registrations, ultimately providing vital statistics for informed decision-making.
With the launch of this innovative registration portal, Nigeria takes a significant step towards advancing its civil registration and vital statistics capabilities, aligning with global goals and utilizing digital technology to improve data collection and management for the benefit of its citizens.
