Nigeria's National Population Commission launches digital birth and death registration in Akwa Ibom and Kwara

The National Population Commission (NPC) has begun digital registration of births, deaths and other vital events using its VitalReg platform under the Electronic Civil Registration and Vital Statistics (E‑CRVS) system. The rollout started in Akwa Ibom State, where Federal Commissioner Benedict Ukpong announced the opening of 4,011 functional registration centres across 774 local government areas, with plans to expand to 8,000 centres. In Kwara State, Federal Commissioner Yahaya Alada reported the platform is now fully operational in all 16 local government areas, supported by 92 registration centres. Both officials said the initiative, built on the national E‑CRVS launch by President Bola Tinubu in November 2023, will become operational nationwide on 1 July 2026, aiming to raise birth registration coverage from about 57 % and death registration below 20 % to full legal identity and more reliable demographic data for policy planning.

The program is presented as a major reform to improve data integrity, service delivery and resource allocation across Nigeria.