UNICEF: Lagos Birth Registration Campaign Targets Infants Under One

UNICEF’s ongoing effort in Lagos State provides a clear illustration of how a piece of paper can change a child’s life. It’s a huge task, but the agency is aiming to register 545,000 Lagos infants under one by the end of 2025.

Why Registration Matters

At first thought, birth registration might seem like just paperwork. But for a child, it is so much more. As Celine Lafoucrière, UNICEF’s Lagos Field Office chief, put it, “Birth registration is the first line of protection for every child”.

Think about it: without legal identity, a child becomes invisible in the eyes of the state. Officials can’t count them in statistics, healthcare providers can’t reliably treat them, schools can’t enroll them easily, and they may miss out on government services.

So, registering a child is not just paperwork, it can open doors to their basic rights and protections.

The Landscape in Lagos

Lagos is already ahead in many ways. Parents have already registered about 94% of children under five. That’s impressive, but the challenge lies in reaching those still left out, especially infants in distant or struggling communities.

The plan this year is to focus on newborns and children under one, rather than older ones (who have mostly been covered in previous campaigns). Lagos has received the largest share of birth certificates, over 6 million, from the National Population Commission (NPC), as part of a nationwide distribution of more than 16 million certificates.

What it Could Mean for Children and Health

Let’s imagine two babies born in Lagos today. One is registered at birth; the other is not. The registered child has a much smoother path:

• When a baby gets sick, the clinic can quickly confirm their age, medical history, and care eligibility.
• When it’s time for preschool or primary school, the registration makes admission processes easier.
• Later down the line, access to identity documents, inheritance rights, or even travel becomes simpler.

Conversely, the unregistered child may run into hurdles at every turn. Clinics may hesitate to enroll them in vaccination schedules; school administrators may demand proof of a birth certificate, leaving families scrambling. In worst cases, they may simply be omitted from government planning, meaning fewer resources for their community.

For the health sector, accurate birth registration helps improve everything from tracking child health to planning services and responding to disease outbreaks. If authorities know exactly how many infants are born in each area, they can better allocate vaccinators, medicines, and maternal child health programs. Without such data, health services may under or over allocate, leading to waste or gaps.

Working Together to Make it Real

This is not a task for UNICEF or the state alone. The success of the registration effort depends on many people:

• Partners are encouraging the Ministry of Health to include birth registration in maternal health and immunization services. This way, health workers can register births when mothers give birth or bring babies for vaccination, making it a routine part of care.
• The education sector can require birth certificates during school enrollment, helping ensure families register their children early.
• Officials are calling on traditional, religious, and community leaders to promote birth registration as a civic and moral duty.
• Media and civil society will help promote registration, fight misinformation, and stop unofficial agents charging for free services.
• Authorities will train traditional birth attendants (TBAs) to register babies born outside hospitals, especially in riverine or remote communities.

One creative idea is to set up registration desks in primary schools. When children enroll, staff will direct parents without certificates to the registration desks immediately. Faith-based organizations will request birth certificates during naming ceremonies, helping make registration a cultural tradition.

The Bigger Picture

Lagos is just one piece of a larger puzzle. UNICEF is backing a national plan to register 3.69 million children under one year across 15 priority states.

If it succeeds, the positive impact will extend far beyond just issuing birth certificates across Nigeria’s communities. The data collected will strengthen Nigeria’s civil registration system and improve policy making for better public services nationwide.

This progress will help the country advance toward important global development goals through accurate information and planning. Each registered child represents a victory for accountability, social participation, and respect for every Nigerian citizen.

By December 2025, if all 545,000 infants in Lagos are registered, it will show that every life truly matters. This means every child counts, and every parent has the rightful claim to their child’s identity and future.

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