Don't Miss


Home   >   Business   >   Industries   >   Economy   >   Vital registration: NPC seeks UNFPA’s assistance

Vital registration: NPC seeks UNFPA’s assistance

By on March 28, 2011

The National Population Commission (NPC) has sought the intervention of the United Nations Population Fund (UNFPA) in the areas of registration of vital events and the generation of tables in the data produced from the 2006 national census exercise.

Chairman of the commission, Chief Samuila Danko Makama, made the appeal in Abuja on the occasion of a courtesy visit by the Executive Director, United Nations Population Fund (UNFPA), Professor Babatunde Osotimehin, to the NPC headquarters.

Makama, who commended the role played by the UNFPA in the successful conduct of the N35 billion 2006 census exercise, disclosed that the commission had not concluded all matters relating to the exercise as the volumes of table to be disaggregated from the census data were still far from being completed.

He said menographs of data on, among other things, the elderly, violence against women and maternal mortality had to be produced and disseminated.

Similarly , he said tables on the post enumeration survey needed to be generated, analysed and disseminated.

“Our  database needs to be developed and consolidated to provide statistical information to endusers in a manner that conforms with international best practices,” the NPC Chairman said.

Calling on UNFPA to assist the commission in the big tasks ahead, Chief Makama said the commission took cognisance of UNFPA’s  priority areas for Africa which included, among other issues, improving reproductive health and rights, increasing awareness on sexuality education among young people and ensuring that African governments have policies to promote them.

Another important area which the NPC solicited the support of the UNFPA was in the area of registration of vital events such as birth, deaths, still births, marriages, and many other areas.

According to Chief Makama, the vital registration, which commenced in 1998, had passed through a lot of hiccups as the set targets were yet to be attained.

Disclosing that UNICEF had continued to support the vital registration programme in terms of training of registrars and supervisors, processing of backlogs of unregistered events and data, the NPC boss said the commission would appreciate UNFPA support to complement the efforts of UNICEF.

“UNFPA’s supports to Nigeria in the areas of census taking, reproductive health, population and development is highly appreciated. We, nevertheless, also solicit for support in the registration of vital events which are essential activities of the commission,” the chairman said.

Source : Tribune