Any Child Without Birth Certificate Will Not Be Enrolled In Ondo Primary Schools, Says Akeredolu

By Niyi Olutunde, Akure

The Ondo state government yesterday said that the National Population Commission birth certificate has become a yardstick for the enrollment of any child into primary schools across the state.

Governor Oluwarotimi Akeredolu gave the disclosure in Akure at a stakeholders meeting on birth registration.

According to him, Akeredolu said that any child without a National Population Commission birth certificate would no longer be admitted into primary school in the state.

Akeredolu who argued that it would be difficult to plan for the unregistered children hence the need for parents to have their children registered for accelerated development.

“If we do not have child birth registration, we cannot plan properly. Every child must have genuine birth certificate now before entering primary schools in Ondo state”, he said.

Akeredolu who described the programme as the great initiative and appreciative, however appealed to communities and religious leaders as well as, NPC to improve on advocacy and awareness of birth registration in their domains.

Earlier, the wife of the governor, Mrs. Betty Akeredolu, expressed displeasure that almost half of children under five years in the state were not considered in socio-economic planning and are therefore at risk of lacking access to basic social amenities that could ensure adequate child development.

Mrs Akeredolu said that Ondo state has one of the worst birth registration coverage in Southwest as only 68% of our children were registered.

She however said, “No more will our children be without an identity, no more will our children lack access to social infrastructure. They are our children and they must be planned for.

“To improve birth registration, I believe the participation of women in the birth registration framework is quintessential. The reason is simple, women are the first care givers and they determine to a large extent what their children get.

“I knew there was a need to make women in the communities lead birth registration programming”.