Birth registration is the first step in safeguarding the rights and identity of every child, says Celine Lafoucriere, Chief of UNICEF’s Lagos Field Office. She made this known at the Birth Registration Multi-Sector Dialogue held recently.
Lafoucriere praised the Lagos State Government for significant progress in birth registration, noting that 94% of children under the age of five have been successfully registered. However, she stressed that much work remains, particularly in hard-to-reach areas, informal settlements, and among low-income families, where access to registration remains a challenge.
“Without birth registration, children are unable to access essential services such as healthcare, education, and social protection,” she explained. “Without legal identity, they become invisible.”
To help address these gaps, the National Population Commission (NPC), with support from UNICEF, began distributing over 16 million birth certificates nationwide in September. Lagos received the largest share, with more than 6 million certificates allocated to the state.
In Lagos, the groundwork has already been laid. With the support of UNICEF and other partners, training on birth registration has been completed across all 20 Local Government Areas, including health facilities. Tablets and other registration supplies have also been distributed to enable digital registration.
Looking ahead to 2025, UNICEF is backing an ambitious plan to register 3.69 million children under the age of one across 15 priority states. Lagos alone has a target of 545,000 children.
Lafoucriere expressed confidence that the goal is achievable through coordinated, multi-sector collaboration. She called on the Ministry of Health to integrate birth registration into immunization and maternal health programs. Education authorities, she said, must ensure that birth certificates are a requirement for school enrollment.
She also urged traditional and community leaders to promote birth registration as a civic duty, while the media should amplify messaging that resonates across diverse communities. Civil society organizations, she added, must hold all stakeholders accountable.
Lafoucriere reaffirmed UNICEF’s commitment to co-developing a Lagos State Birth Registration Plan aimed at increasing demand at the grassroots level. This plan will also explore pilot initiatives to integrate birth registration with immunization and other child-focused services.
She concluded by encouraging ministries, agencies, organizations, and communities to contribute strategically—both in the short term and beyond 2025—to ensure every child is counted and protected.
