The Bishop of African Church, Solution Ground, Abeokuta, Jeremiah Okunlola, has urged the Christian community to key into the Federal Government’s e-birth registration initiative.
The Christian cleric highlighted the numerous benefits of the initiative in a revival service, Solution Hour, held in Abeokuta on Tuesday.
Okunlola emphasised the need for parents and guidance to register their children under five years old with the government at all levels.
“By the grace of God, I want to enlighten the whole church about the electronic birth registration that the government at all levels is set to commence.
“This registration is for children between the ages of 0 and 5 years.
“It’s very important that if you have children within this range, you should endeavour to register them electronically.
“It is a way of capturing our children; to have their identities with the federal, state and local governments, as it obtains.
“It is to our benefit; nothing will happen to your child. It’s to capture the data of your children at all levels of government so that they won’t have problems like the parents.
“When they grow up, their data are intact with the Federal Government of Nigeria, so visit your nearest local government office and register your children electronically,” he said.
The News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) recalls the e-birth registration was conceptualised two years ago with the plan to ensure every child in Nigeria has a legal identity.
Corroborating Okunlola, a United Nations Children’s Fund (UNICEF) Child Protection Specialist, Denis Onoise, told NAN the nation had a lot to gain by adopting the e-birth registration as a standard.
He noted that increased awareness would boost the demand for e-birth registration, stressing that both the urban and rural areas were expected to be captured.
Onoise added that the registration would help Nigeria attain the Sustainable Development Goals (SDG) 16.9 by 2030, which entailed providing legal identity for all, including free birth registration. (NAN)
