Commission decries non-registration of births and deaths
The
chairman of the National Population Commission (NPC), Samui’la Danko
Makama, yesterday lambasted Nigerians for deliberately refusing to
register the births and deaths of their children.
He regretted that
only 35 percent, out of every five million children born, are
registered. He said that the situation is very unfortunate as other
countries in the world are keeping records of both births and deaths of
their people.
Mr. Makama spoke at a press conference in Abuja commemorating this year’s World Population Day.
According to him,
good demographic data is critical for planning and designing policies
based on future population projections, and for monitoring the
effectiveness of service delivery.
The chairman hoped
that the commission’s focus on the 2010 round of the population and
housing census would produce reliable data. He observed that properly
collecting, analysing, and disseminating data would drive good
decision-making.
Mr. Makama said for
such an undertaking, like the 2010 census to be accurate and reliable,
it must be based on scientific and verifiable collection of demographic
data that would capture not only the size of the population, but also
their composition, characteristics, and future trends.
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