Health
THE National Population Commission (NPC) has announced the commencement of digital registration of births, death and other vital events on its VitalReg platform in Akwa Ibom.
Mr Benedict Ukpong, the NPC Federal Commissioner representing Akwa Ibom made the remark on Thursday in Uyo during a press briefing.
Ukpong said the initiative was built on the historic launch of the electronic Civil Registration and Vital Statistics System (E-CRVS) and the inauguration of National Coordination Committee on CRVS by President Bola Tinubu on Nov. 8, 2023.
According to him, effective July 1, 2026, this transformative initiative became operational across the 36 states of the federation and the Federal Capital Territory (FCT),” he said.
‘’Today’s announcement marks the next critical step in our collective efforts to build a modern, efficient and technology-driven civil registration system that meets international standards.
”It reflects the commission’s unwavering commitment to leveraging technology to improve service delivery, strengthen data integrity and ensure that every birth, death and other vital events are accurately and securely documented digitally,” he said.
He further said that the commission was working toward the implementation of a Deed Poll Service, through which all official changes of name would be digitally documented and Deed Poll certificates issued to beneficiaries.
Ukpong said civil registration was far more than an administrative process, as it provided the foundation for reliable national statistics that guided public policy, resource allocation and development planning.
He lamented that Nigeria recorded an estimated five million births annually, yet millions of births and deaths still went unregistered.
According to him, the Federal Commissioner said birth registration coverage currently stood at about 57 per cent nationwide, while death registration remained below 20 per cent.
Ukpong added that the gaps had deprived many Nigerians of legal identity and limited the availability of reliable data required for effective national planning.
”In Akwa Ibom, approximately 60 per cent of births remains unregistered; to address the challenge, the NPC has established 4,011 functional registration centres across the 774 Local Government Areas,” he said
He said that the commission was working to expand the network to 8,000 centres in the state as it currently had 118 registration centres across the 31 local government areas in Akwa Ibom.
Ukpong said the VitalReg platform was designed to provide faster and more efficient 24-hour online access, digital certificate issuance, improved accuracy, and a secure and credible national CRVS database.
He said the NPC signed a partnership compact on the Decentralisation and Localisation of Birth Registration and Legal Identity with some stakeholders such as the UNICEF.
Others are Association of Local Governments of Nigeria (ALGON), the National Identity Management Commission (NIMC), and Banksforte Technologies Ltd.
Ukpong said the strategic alliance sought to localise registration services at the community level, improve accessibility, enhance operational efficiency, strengthen grassroots participation and ultimately improve data accuracy.
“To sustain this digital infrastructure, the commission has reviewed the fees charged for certain specialised administrative services, including record modifications, certificate reissuance, attestations and verification requests,” he said.
The Federal Commissioner said the VitalReg platform offered both assisted and self-service options to enable Nigerians access services either online or at the commission’s offices.
Earlier, Mr Isemin Isemin, the State Director of NPC, said the briefing was held in line with the directive that the Chairman’s national press briefing of July 15, 2026, should be replicated in the states.
He assured the people of the state that NPC would adequately prepared its personnel to provide efficient, secure and citizen-friendly services.
”I am confident that with your continued cooperation and support, we will achieve our objective of ensuring that no birth goes unregistered, no death goes undocumented and no vital event goes unrecorded,” he said.
Isemin thanked the state government, the local government councils, healthcare institutions, traditional and religious leaders, civil society organisations and the media for their continued collaboration.
The News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) reports that goodwill messages were presented by the National Orientation Agency and the Bureau of Political and Social Re-orientation in Akwa Ibom.(NAN)
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Tags: Digital registration NPC VitalReg