The National Population Commission (NPC) has announced the full commencement of digital registration of births and deaths across Nigeria, effective July 1, 2026, under a new Electronic Civil Registration and Vital Statistics (E-CRVS) system known as the VitalReg platform.
This was disclosed by the Federal Commissioner representing Kogi State at the NPC, Hon. (Engr.) Yori Afolabi, at a press briefing on the milestone, describing it as one of the most significant reforms in the history of civil registration in Nigeria.
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Afolabi said the initiative builds on the E-CRVS system launched by President Bola Ahmed Tinubu in November 2023, alongside the inauguration of the National Coordination Committee on CRVS, and is now fully operational across the 36 states and the Federal Capital Territory.
The Commissioner noted that Nigeria records an estimated five million births yearly, yet a large share go undocumented.
He put birth registration coverage at about 57 per cent nationwide, while death registration remains below 20 per cent, leaving many Nigerians without legal identity and limiting data available for national planning.
To close these gaps, he said the NPC has set up 4,011 functional registration centres across the country’s 774 local government areas, with plans to expand the network to about 8,000 centres.
According to Hon. Afolabi, the VitalReg platform will provide faster registration services, 24-hour online access, digital certificate issuance where applicable, reduced paperwork and waiting times, automated data validation for improved accuracy, and a more secure national CRVS database that can support other national data systems.
He added that the platform is built for secure interoperability with other government digital identity systems.
However, the commissioner disclosed that the NPC has signed a partnership compact on the decentralisation and localisation of birth registration and legal identity with the Association of Local Governments of Nigeria (ALGON), the National Identity Management Commission (NIMC), UNICEF, and Barnksforte Technologies Limited, aimed at improving access and grassroots participation in civil registration.
He said the platform is being run under a public-private partnership with Barnksforte Technologies Ltd, which serves as the Commission’s technical partner responsible for system availability, cybersecurity and upgrades.
Hon. Afolabi also announced a review of fees for specialised administrative services such as record modifications, certificate reissuance, attestations and verification requests, saying the adjustment was necessary to sustain the platform’s infrastructure.
He, however, assured Nigerians that birth registration and birth notification services remain highly subsidised and that the fee review was not intended to restrict access.
The Federal Commissioner appealed to all stakeholders, including state and local governments, healthcare institutions, traditional and religious leaders, and civil society organisations, to support the Commission’s drive to ensure prompt registration of all births and deaths.
He commended the media, particularly the NPC Press Corps, for its role in building public confidence in the Commission’s work.
He said the NPC remains committed to strengthening civil registration as part of its Seven-Point Agenda, with emphasis on digital transformation, data quality, stakeholder engagement and improved service delivery.
