KEY POINTS

• Nigeria has registered more than 14.5 million children in a drive to give every child a legal identity.
• Digital birth registration now runs in over 6,000 of Nigeria’s 8,809 wards, often via health facilities.
• Officials warn only about half of under-fives in sub-Saharan Africa are registered at birth, the world’s largest unregistered share.

Nigeria has registered more than 14.5 million children under an intensified birth registration drive, as the Federal Government pushes to give every child born in the country a legal identity.

The National Population Commission announced the milestone as Nigeria marked the 2026 Africa Civil Registration and Vital Statistics event. According to the commission, digital birth registration now runs in more than 6,000 of the country’s 8,809 wards, often through health facilities and community outreach.

Digital drive reaches more wards

The 2026 commemoration opens a new CRVS decade that runs to 2036, and it centres on integration, decentralisation and digitalisation. NPC Chairman Aminu Yusuf said the commission wants no child excluded from legal recognition because of where he or she was born. Moreover, he said every registered birth strengthens child protection and national development.

Furthermore, states such as Bayelsa, Gombe, Jigawa, Taraba, Kebbi, Niger and Zamfara now tie birth registration to health facilities and community services, so parents can register children closer to where they are born. The commission also works with the National Identity Management Commission, ALGON, development partners and communities to strengthen the system. Stakeholders note that registration marks a child’s first formal recognition by the state, and that it unlocks healthcare, education and social protection while giving planners vital demographic data.

Officials call for wider access

NIMC Director-General Abisoye Coker-Odusote said integrated digital identity systems create a seamless path from birth to adulthood while improving access to services. Meanwhile, UNICEF’s representative in Nigeria, Wafaa Saeed Abdelatef, described birth registration as far more than a certificate, calling it a gateway to protection, services and opportunity. She added that UNICEF would keep backing efforts to build integrated, decentralised and digital systems.

Still, officials warned that the task remains huge. ALGON President Bello Lawal urged deeper decentralisation so rural and underserved communities do not fall behind, and the House committee chairman on the NPC, Okunjimi John Odimayo, stressed sustained political commitment. Consequently, stakeholders noted that only about half of children under five in sub-Saharan Africa gain registration at birth, which leaves the region with the world’s largest share of unregistered children.