By Yusuf A Yusuf, Damaturu
The National Population Commission (NPC) Yobe State office has commenced statewide digital registration of births and deaths under the Electronic Civil Registration and Vital Statistics (E-CRVS) system, marking a major shift from the country's long-standing paper-based civil registration process.
Speaking at a press briefing in Damaturu on Tuesday, the Federal Commissioner representing Yobe, Alhaji Tonga Betara Bularafa, said the VitalReg platform became fully operational across the state's 17 local government areas effective 1 July 2026.
"This step is significant in our collective efforts to strengthen civil registration, enhance the generation of vital statistics, and ensure that every birth and death occurring in Yobe is captured through a modern, efficient, and digitally enabled registration system," Bularafa said.
The initiative builds on the national launch of the E-CRVS system, inaugurated by President Bola Ahmed Tinubu on 8 November 2023. The digital platform is now operational nationwide across all 36 states and the Federal Capital Territory.
Bularafa noted that Nigeria records an estimated five million births annually, yet birth registration coverage stands at only about 57 percent nationwide, while death registration remains below 20 percent.
"These gaps deprive many Nigerians of legal identity and limit the availability of reliable data needed for effective national planning," he said.
According to the Yobe NPC commissioner,to address this, the NPC has established 4,011 functional registration centres across the 774 Local Government Areas, with plans to expand the network to about 8,000.The registration centers are also set up across 178 political wards in Yobe State,situated at the Primary Health Care Centers.
He revealed,the digital system offers aster and more efficient registration services,24-hour online access to services,digital certificate issuance, deduced paperwork, waiting time, and unnecessary travel,improved accuracy through automated data validation and a secure and credible national CRVS database.
He further explained that,the platform is designed for secure interoperability with government institutions across Nigeria's digital identity ecosystem, aligning with the Federal Government's broader digital transformation agenda.
"The NPC has signed a partnership compact with the Association of Local Governments of Nigeria (ALGON), National Identity Management Commission (NIMC), UNICEF, and Barnkfort Technologies Limited to decentralise and localise registration services at the community level.
"The platform is being operated under a Public-Private Partnership arrangement with Barnksfort Technologies Ltd, a Nigerian IT solution provider serving as the commission's technical partner, ensuring continuous system availability, cybersecurity protection, and technological improvements",said Betara.
While the commission has reviewed fees for certain specialised administrative services including record modifications, certificate reissuance, attestations,and verification requests, Bularafa assured that birth registration and birth notification services remain highly subsidised to ensure universal access.
"The NPC reaffirmed its commitment to strengthening Civil Registration and Vital Statistics as a key pillar of its Seven-Point Agenda, particularly in digital transformation, data quality, stakeholder engagement, and improved service delivery,"he added.
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