Thread by @TheICIR

Birth registration is low in Imo, Rivers; and govt. officials are responsible
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Only 2.8M under-five children out of a population of 32 million in Nigeria have birth certificates. According to the law establishing the birth registration scheme in Nigeria, birth registration is free, and any child not registered legally does not exist
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ON Thursday morning, at 8:00 am, March 14th, The ICIR reporter arrived at Isiala-Mbano Primary Health Care in Osu Isiala- Mbano Local Government of Imo State, the veranda of the health centre serves as the reception, with two long benches that had turned black with age.
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The journalist struck up a conversation with one of the nursing mothers, Ngozika Wisdom, on how to get a birth certificate.

“Oh, that is easy, just meet Sister, she will give you, it does not take time,” she said pointing towards the entrance of the building,” she said.
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10 minutes later, the journalist was ushered into the matron’s office. The cries of new born babies filled the room, some barely a day old were held by their mothers surrounded by family or probably friends who cast questioning looks at the journalist.
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“The one I will give you does not have NPC logo, and it is N500, the NPC official that gives the official birth certificates is not here yet but will be here by 10 o’clock. That one will cost you the same amount or more depending on the person,” she said.
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But by 10 o’clock am, the NPC personnel was yet to arrive and the reporter was asked to visit the local government headquarters secretariat, a walking distance from the primary healthcare centre to acquire the certificate.
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A light-skinned man drove in on a motorbike several minutes later and introduced himself as Martins Duru. Though Duru issued the reporter a birth certificate, at the price of N1,500, it did not have the NPC serial number or the logo.
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“If you want the one from NPC, the person to talk to is Onyenawi Francis. He is the residing NPC official in the LG,” Martins said.

At Francis’ office, he did not hesitate to write a certificate for a child that was not presented before him.
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The reporter came up with phantom names: Name of Child – Ikechukwu Charles David; parents’ name – Ikechukwu Charles and Jennifer Ikechukwu both from Umuozu Ama Umuozu Isiala Mbano.

“Hope they know how much they are supposed to bring?” he asked Martins
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When the journalist insisted that the certificate should be free, Francis wouldn’t hear of it.
“If you want the free one the procedures are different because I can tell you to fill that form and submit, and come back in 6 months time. Once you leave, I will just drop it somewhere

“Look when I am returning this duplicates, the person that I will submit it to will ask for money too & they won’t believe I did not collect money. The govt will tell you that it is free, but the same people saying that it is free are the ones that will ask for money"

“The person collecting these things from Abuja will even ask for money too but because you came with this my oga, give us N2,000,” Francis said

Finally, the deal was struck at N1,000 and the new certificate was acquired.
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Some of the mothers said they have to pay between N200 and N500 to get a birth certificate.

“I just hope that the nurse will immunise us, maybe by next week I will pay, but for now I don’t have that money,” she said.
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Agwu Innocent, the Imo State Head of Vital Registration, told The ICIR in an interview that the commission was underfunded and that lack of funds was responsible for the subtle extortion being experienced at the various PHCs.
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However, "extortion in the birth registration centres contributes only about 20 per cent to the problems of effective birth registration in Nigeria." Chukwuedozie Ajaero, Director of Research and Capacity Building, University of Nigeria Nsukka
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