UNICEF partners Kano emirate on birth registration

The United Nations Children Fund (UNICEF) has expressed readiness to partner with the Kano Emirate Council to enhance birth registration across the 44 local government areas of the state.
UNICEF Director of Media, Alhaji Rabi’u Musa made the pledge at a stakeholders’ meeting on strategic planning for media campaign on birth registration in the state yesterday.
The meeting was organised by the National Population Commission (NPC) in collaboration with UNICEF as part of efforts to review the success and challenges in the exercise.
According to him, the collaboration was necessary in view of the fact that traditional rulers had a key role to play to improve birth registration in the state.
He however stated that UNICEF was committed to providing moral, technical and financial support to improve birth registration in the state in view of its importance.
“We are looking at what we can do to improve our lives and collectively we can work to make a difference,” he said.
He called on all stakeholders to support the effort being made by UNICEF to partner with them to sustain accurate data on birth and dead.
Speaking earlier, , the Head of Department, Vital Registration, National Population Commission, Kano, Hajiya Raliya Gambo said Act 69 of 1992 empowers the commission to establish vital registration systems across the country, adding that the Act stipulates the role of health sector, with respect to information on birth and death.
She said birth registration has a lot of benefits as it will enable people to obtain passports, credit facilities as well as basic services such as immunisation, heath care and school enrolment at the right age, among others.
Also speaking, the Emir of Kano, Alhaji Muhammadu Sanusi II, represented by the District Head of Makoda, Alhaji Wada Waziri, expressed concern over the lukewarm attitude of people toward birth registration.
He called on all stakeholders to sensitise people in their various areas on the importance of the exercise.