The National Population Commission (NPC) has established 4,011 registration centres across Nigeria to make digital birth and death registration more accessible to citizens.
The NPC Federal Commissioner in Katsina State, Prof. Sadik Radda, disclosed this in Katsina while announcing the commencement of the nationwide exercise under the Electronic Civil Registration and Vital Statistics (E-CRVS) system. He said the centres are spread across the 774 local government areas, with plans to increase the number to 8,000.
Radda said the digital registration exercise became operational on July 1 through the VitalReg platform across the 36 states and the FCT. He said the system would provide faster registration, digital certificate issuance where applicable, reduced paperwork and waiting time, as well as online access to registration services.
According to him, Nigeria records about five million births annually, but many births and deaths remain unregistered. Birth registration coverage currently stands at about 57 per cent, while death registration remains below 20 per cent, limiting access to legal identity and reliable demographic data for national planning.
The commissioner said the digital system was designed to strengthen data integrity and integrate with Nigeria’s wider digital identity ecosystem. The NPC has also partnered with ALGON, NIMC, UNICEF and Barnksforte Technologies Ltd. to decentralise registration and bring services closer to communities.
Radda said the reforms would help Nigeria establish a modern civil registration system that provides legal identity from birth, improves demographic data and strengthens evidence-based planning and development.
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