The National Orientation Agency and the United Nations Children’s Fund (UNICEF) have entered into strategic partnership aimed at achieving universal registration and legal identity for all children in Nigeria.
The partnership is to ensure success of vision 2030.
Currently, only 60-65% of children in Nigeria are registered, highlighting the urgent need for action.
The Director General of the NOA, Mallam Lanre Isssa- Onilu announced the committed to partner with the UNICEF during an audience with the UNICEF team led by Ibrahim Siseh, Chief Child Protection Officer.
The primary objective of the meeting was to forge a strategic partnership aimed at devising an action plan and sensitization campaign to achieve universal registration and legal identity for all children in Nigeria.
Under the framework of the Sustainable Development Goal (SDG) 16.9, which emphasizes the importance of providing legal identity for all, including birth registration.
The collaboration between UNICEF and NOA entails leveraging digitalized systems and existing health services to ensure that every child receives a birth certificate. Overcoming household barriers and increasing demand for quality civil registration services are key priorities, along with engaging traditional communicators to influence customary practices and improve social communication.
Highlighting the significance of the partnership, the Director-General (DG) of NOA, Mallam Lanre Issa-Onilu emphasized the organization’s commitment to working with stakeholders on issues concerning women and children, including promoting family values and parenting.
The DG stressed the importance of community sensitization and the role of traditional leaders in driving the agenda of citizen registration.
For him leveraging demographic databanks and traditional platforms to reach Nigerians effectively, drawing parallels with successful campaigns such as polio eradication and girl-child education remain the best way to achieving the goals of the campaign.
He also called for the addressing of challenges such as payment for registration, the collaboration aims to involve key stakeholders, including the Ministry of Health and the National Population Commission (NPC), to ensure the smooth implementation of the registration process.