By Auwal Abdulrazaq, Mungadi, Gombe
The National Population Commission (NPC) has lamented the dearth of birth registration, stating that only 127,305 childbirths were registered and issued with a birth certificate from January to November 2021 in Gombe state.
According to the commission, there is a large chunk of children not registered and not having a birth certificate in the country.
This was disclosed by Mr Adedeji Rufai Adeniyi, the Head of Civil Registration and Vital Statistics of the NPC.
Addressing newsmen in Gombe, Mr Adedeji said, “It is not enough for any parent to bring a child into the world and not register that child.
He added stating that the NPC has been trying to preach the ills of not registering a child, “whenever you give birth to any child take the next step after the christening, after naming, go and obtain a birth certificate for him or her”.
He explained that government can only plan for registered children, not unregistered ones.
According to him, Gombe has so far registered 37,870 under one-year-old children and a total of 68,727 under-five children as well as 20,708 children above 18 years old.