Zulaiha Danjuma

The National Population Commission (NPC) E-birth registration service was launched to allow Nigerians to register children at birth and receive a birth certificate online.

KANO FOCUS reports, with the support of UNICEF, this digital platform aims to provide a secure and accessible digital identity for every Nigerian child.

This is to enhance service delivery and establish a centralized identity data hub, accessible to healthcare, financial, and security agencies nationwide.

Since November 2024, over 933,859 digital birth registration have been recorded in Kano state, according to Alhaji Ismaila Al-Hassan Dogo, State Director of the NPC.

According to UNICEF, the digital birth registration platform has revolutionized the traditional registration process, doing away with tedious paper-based applications. This innovative platform has streamlined birth registration, eliminating double entries and ensuring a seamless, integrated experience.

The platform targets capturing all unregistered children in the 44 local government areas of Kano state and integrating them into the state’s database, NPC State Director, Al-Hassan Dogo said.

According to UNICEF, the new e-birth registration system would automatically generate and secure a National Identity Number (NIN) for every child registered.

UNICEF also said, registering children on the e-birth platform paves the way for a smoother future. With a digital birth certificate, kids can breeze through school enrollment, visa applications, and even international passport requests – setting them up for success from the very start.

So far, the NPC has said that Kano state has the highest number of e-birth registration in the entire country

But a recent visit to the Muhammadu Abdullahi Wase Teaching Hospital in Kano revealed a concerning lack of awareness about the National Population Commission’s (NPC) free E-birth registration for newborns among some new mothers.

 Low Awareness about e-birth Platform 

Many new mothers remain unaware of the e-birth platform and the services available to them.

Fatima Awwal Habib, a mother of four, expressed her surprise at learning about the service. “I have never heard of any such E-birth registration process for birth certificates,” she said.

Another mother, Safiya Ahmad, also confessed to being unaware of the digitalized birth registration process. “I am not aware of such,” she said, adding that the only birth certificate she had for her children was the one issued by the hospital.

New mothers Zainab Sale and Hafsat Isa were also surprised to learn about the free E-birth registration service. Ms. Zainab, who had just given birth to her son a week ago, said, “I am hearing this from you now, I don’t know if any birth certificate is supposed to be given to my son at the hospital, let alone me registering him for a national one through an online platform.”

Ms. Hafsat, while breastfeeding her few days old child, said, “I kept quiet earlier because this is very new information to me, I had never heard of a national free E-birth registration before today.”

But low digital literacy levels among many new mothers also poses a significant challenge to the e-birth service’s usability.

“A lot of people are not tech-savvy to use a website that requires a payment,” Bello Sani, a renowned Software Engineer and tech industry expert, who founded Tenet Technology, explained.

“Most people can go to a site to fill out forms and submit, but payment systems are still a struggle for a large number of the population. Many have to go to an internet center to be able to successfully access such service.”

This lack of awareness and limited literacy levels threaten to undermine the effectiveness of the NPC’s E-birth registration initiative. As Bello Sani noted, “This in itself will exclude people in rural areas completely, because issues of social and financial inclusion are still a problem.”

Processing fees

Accessing the digital platform and it’s services is supposed to be free for children under five years of age. But parents are required to enter a payment reference number when initiating the registration process.

The NPC’s public statement says registration is supposed to be free for children under five and costs N2,000 for those above five, the platform’s user interface tells a different story.

A closer examination of the e-birth portal reveals that a fee of ₦2,030 is actually charged for registering any child, regardless of age.

This glaring inconsistency raises questions whether the E-birth registration is truly free for Nigerian children under 5.

This is particularly concerning, as Nigerians who need this service the most, are those financially vulnerable and unable often to afford the fee.

“When the public have an impression that a government service is going to be free but it turns out to have a hidden charge it makes the public lose trust in the entire system” Bello said.

“This is a financial exclusion tactic in a way because the website is public and not a business website, which usually has its target audience, this is a government website.

The added charge makes it that people who can’t afford the service fee would not be able to use the service, hence are excluded” he added

As the NPC’s e-birth registration initiative holds great promise for Nigeria’s future, it’s imperative that the commission prioritizes widespread awareness and reviews the payment clause to ensure inclusivity. Collaboration with stakeholders is crucial to address these challenges and unlock the full potential of this game-changing initiative.

This story is produced under the Digital Public Infrastructure (DPI) Fellowship of the Media Foundation for West Africa (MFWA) and Co-Develop in partnership with Kano Focus online Newspaper.