NPC Introduces Digital Platform to Improve Birth and Death Registration Nationwide

The National Population Commission (NPC) has commenced the nationwide digital registration of births and deaths through its new VitalReg platform, as part of efforts to improve civil registration, strengthen national data systems and ensure that more Nigerians have access to legal identity documentation.

The commission disclosed that birth registration coverage in Nigeria currently stands at about 57 per cent, while death registration remains below 20 per cent.

The low registration rates have continued to create significant gaps in population data and make effective planning for healthcare, education, social services and other areas of national development more difficult.

The Federal Commissioner representing Gombe State on the NPC, Abubakar Danburam, disclosed the development during an interview with Journalists.

According to Danburam, the Electronic Civil Registration and Vital Statistics system became fully operational nationwide on July 1, 2026, covering all 36 states and the Federal Capital Territory.

He described the initiative as a major transformation of Nigeria’s civil registration system, designed to make the registration of births and deaths faster, more accessible and more reliable.

Nigeria records an estimated five million births every year, but a large proportion of these births are not formally registered.

The same challenge exists with death registration, leaving many citizens without proper documentation and depriving the government of accurate demographic information.

Danburam explained that the VitalReg platform would help address these challenges by reducing paperwork, shortening processing times and limiting the need for citizens to travel long distances to registration centres.

The platform is expected to provide round-the-clock online access to registration services, automated data validation, digital issuance of certificates where applicable and improved security for the country’s Civil Registration and Vital Statistics database.

The commissioner said the digital system would also facilitate secure data sharing among relevant government institutions within Nigeria’s broader digital identity ecosystem.

He stressed that accurate records of births and deaths were particularly important to the health sector because such information provides the foundation for reliable population statistics, health planning and evidence-based policymaking.

Danburam disclosed that the NPC currently has 4,011 functional registration centres spread across the 774 Local Government Areas in the country.

The commission, he said, plans to expand the number of centres to approximately 8,000 in order to bring registration services closer to Nigerians, especially those living in underserved communities.

He also clarified that the commission’s recent review of fees for certain specialised administrative services would not affect basic birth registration and birth notification.

According to him, birth registration and notification services remain highly subsidised to encourage more Nigerians to register births promptly.

The commissioner said the VitalReg platform is being implemented through a public-private partnership involving Barnksforte Technologies Limited, a Nigerian information technology solutions provider serving as the NPC’s technical partner.

He explained that the partnership would support the availability, cybersecurity and continuous technological improvement of the registration platform.

The NPC has also entered into a partnership involving the Association of Local Governments of Nigeria, the National Identity Management Commission, UNICEF and Barnksforte Technologies Limited to promote the decentralisation and localisation of birth registration and legal identity services.

The partnership is expected to bring registration services closer to communities, improve operational efficiency and encourage greater participation at the grassroots level.

Danburam called on state and local governments, healthcare providers, traditional and religious leaders, civil society organisations and other stakeholders to support the initiative by ensuring that births and deaths are registered promptly.

He emphasised that the success of the digital registration reform would depend largely on the active participation of Nigerians and relevant institutions.

The NPC Federal Commissioner said a stronger civil registration system would help guarantee legal identity from birth while providing government with credible demographic information required for effective governance and national development.

He added that the digital transformation of civil registration was part of the commission’s broader efforts to improve data quality, strengthen stakeholder engagement and make registration services more efficient and accessible to Nigerians.

The NPC believes that expanding digital registration will ultimately contribute to a more accurate population database and provide policymakers with the reliable information needed to make better decisions on healthcare, education, infrastructure, social protection and other critical areas of national development