Councils and Birth Certificate Scam Councils and Birth Certificate Scam

2/10/2011 Councils and birth certificate scam Councils and birth certificate scam

MONDAY, 14 DECEMBER 2009 23:00 NIGERIAN COMPASS

The birth certificate is a vital record that documents the birth of a child. Hence, the Federal Government apart from constitutionally charging the National Population Commission (NPC) with the conduct of censuses, empowered it through the Births, Deaths and

Registration Decree 69 of 1992 (now an Act of the National Assembly) to register all births and deaths in the country and maintain a national databank on the subject. However, there is parallel registration being carried out by the local government council officials, which the NPC has continuously campaigned against.

Recently, it was reported in the media that a journalist obtained four birth certificates from the Agege, Oshodi/Isolo, Somolu and Lagos Island local governments with the same data in one day. Again, the report revealed that the sum of N1,500 was paid to officials of each of the local government councils before the issuance of the certificates, which took the officials less than 15 minutes to produce without the officials asking for a police report or an affidavit after the journalist claimed that her original birth certificate was missing.

Furthermore, at the Oshodi/Isolo local government council, the birth certificate that was given to the reporter after paying the money had the imprint of the National Population Commission, while the documents obtained from the other local government council had the imprint of the Lagos State Government. Again, in a bid to justify the birth certificate she obtained at the Oshodi/Isolo Local Government, an affidavit purportedly signed and sworn to by her mother was forged.

These cases show how easy it is to acquire fake, forged and doctored birth certificates in Nigeria, especially with the absence of a national data bank for birth cetificates. Despite the fact that it is easy to forge birth records in Nigeria, it is a criminal offence that has placed a lot of Nigerians in an awkward position as their requests for visas in embassies may be rejected on the basis of illegitimate birth certificates.

Anyway, the question at this juncture is: Why are the local government councils still issuing birth certificates despite the fact that NPC has been charged with that responsibility? Perhaps it is because it is a source of revenue for the councils, hence they are reluctant to hands off the exercise. But this, nothwithstanding, it is wrong for the councils to issue certificates arbitrarily because apart from being illegal, it has negative implications.

What is happening goes beyond just birth certificates, as all forms of certificate forgery abound in the country, with its implication for global perception of records from Nigeria. In advanced climes, date of birth is unchangeable and this scam runs against the principle of the sanctity of the date of birth. The negative outcome of the scam was seen recently in Nigeria as it affected us in the just concluded world cup.

The NPC should ensure that electronic birth registration system is functional because birth certificate scam is largely successful since Nigeria lacks electronic birth registration systems which enable a person to have as many birth certificates as he wants. Also, the NPC should step up public enlightenment to educate Nigerians that obtaining multiple birth certificates is wrong; that the NPC has established registration centres in each Local Government Area and in some public maternity clinics all over the country to ease the logistics of obtaining an authentic birth certificate; and that the certificate can be obtained free at any of these centres and LGA offices.

Finally, declaration of age should be outlawed as it is an avenue to falsify age. The Federal Office of Statistics should develop a database for births and deaths. Even though, some members of the National Assembly are alleged to be involved in falsification of age, they should act speedily by legislating on it and introduce sanctions to curb this embarrassing birth certificate scam so that our birth certificates would be seen as valid documents in Nigeria and other compassnewspaper.com/NG/index.php… 1/2 2/10/2011 Councils and birth certificate scam countries of the world.