NPC Takes Digital Registration To 4,000 Wards, Targets 8,000 Centres

The National Population Commission (NPC) has extended digital civil registration services to about 4,000 of Nigeria’s 8,809 wards, as part of efforts to take birth, death and other vital-event registration closer to Nigerians at the grassroots.

The Commission also said it had commenced an expansion programme that will increase its registration centres from more than 4,000 to approximately 8,000 nationwide.

NPC Chairman, Dr Aminu Yusuf, disclosed this on Monday in Abuja at a media briefing to commemorate the 2026 Africa Civil Registration and Vital Statistics (CRVS) Day and Nigeria’s transition to a fully digital civil registration system.

Yusuf said the expansion was part of the Commission’s decentralisation drive aimed at ensuring that Nigerians, particularly those in underserved and hard-to-reach communities, have easier access to civil registration services.

“Out of the 8,809 wards across the country, the Partnership Compact has already extended digital civil registration services to about 4,000 wards,” the chairman said.

He added, “Work is progressing steadily to expand this coverage to all wards nationwide, ensuring that every Nigerian, irrespective of location, has convenient access to civil registration services.”

According to him, the Commission had also established more than 4,000 functional registration centres across the country’s 774 local government areas, with plans to substantially increase the network.

“Complementing this initiative, the National Population Commission has established over 4,000 functional registration centers across Nigeria’s 774 Local Government Areas and has commenced an ambitious expansion programme that will increase the network to approximately 8,000 registration centers nationwide,” Yusuf said.

He explained that the expansion, combined with the nationwide deployment of the VitalReg platform, would bring registration services closer to communities and reduce the difficulties associated with accessing registration services.

“Combined with the nationwide deployment of the VitalReg platform, this expansion will bring registration services much closer to communities, reduce the time and cost of accessing registration services and ensure that no child or vital event is excluded because of distance or lack of access,” he said.

Yusuf said the decentralisation effort was being complemented by collaboration with health institutions to ensure that birth registration becomes part of routine health services.

“The Commission is also working closely with the National Primary Health Care Development Agency (NPHCDA), State Governments, health institutions and other strategic partners to integrate birth registration into routine health services, ensuring that every child is registered as close as possible to the point of birth,” he said.

The NPC chairman said the initiative was taking place alongside Nigeria’s transition to a fully digital CRVS system, which was officially launched nationwide on July 1, 2026, through the VitalReg platform.

He described the transition as “the end of manual registration and the beginning of a new era of technology-driven civil registration across the country.”

Yusuf said the digital system would improve the quality, efficiency, security and reliability of civil registration and vital statistics, while also strengthening interoperability with other national systems.

He said the digital platform would enable the country to generate vital statistics more quickly for evidence-based planning, efficient service delivery and informed decision-making at all levels of government.

The Chairman disclosed that the Commission’s decentralisation drive was also being supported by a Partnership Compact Agreement entered into in January 2025 with the Association of Local Governments of Nigeria (ALGON), the National Identity Management Commission (NIMC), UNICEF and Bankforte Technologies Limited (BTL).

He said the partnership was designed to decentralise civil registration services, strengthen interoperability and expand access to digital registration at the grassroots.

Yusuf called on state governments, local government authorities, traditional and religious institutions, health facilities, development partners, civil society organisations, community-based organisations and the private sector to continue supporting the Commission’s digital CRVS reform.

He also urged the media to sustain public enlightenment on the importance of birth and death registration, stressing that civil registration was not merely a legal obligation but the foundation of legal identity, access to services, protection of rights and national development.