By Danjuma Attah, Gombe
The Chief of Field Office, Bauchi Field Office of the United Nations Children Fund (UNICEF), Dr. Nuzhat Rafique has appealed to parents and other stakeholders in Gombe State to support the current drive of registering every newly born child.
She said capturing every newly born child is a sure way of planning and taking good care of children which will in turn guarantee a great future for Gombe State and Nigeria as a whole.
Dr. Rafique stated this at the symbolic handing over of 114 digital registration devices to all registration officers in the 144 Wards of Gombe State which took place in the office of the Chairman of Gombe Local Government Area, Sani Ahmadu Haruna.
Haruna is also the Gombe State chapter Chairman of the Association of Local Governments Of Nigeria (ALGON).
According to Dr. Rafique, birth registration is the first basic right of every child stressing, “a child is in the heart of UNICEF, as such, no child should be left behind”.
She called on the registration personnel, who were intensively trained for three days to take the exercise very seriously by ensuring that everyone in the ward/communities, mothers, fathers, community and religious leaders play their roles of making sure that no child is left behind.
Earlier, the Gombe State Director of the National Population Commission (NPC), Alhaji Usman Aliyu, explained that the successful training which was aimed at shifting from analogue to digital birth registration, was facilitated by the Gombe State Primary Health Care Development Agency (SPHCDA), ALGON and UNICEF.
The NPC State Director, who requested for an office accommodation in all the eleven LGA’s called on the registration officers to ensure full commitment towards the exercise.
The Gombe State ALGON Chairman, Sani Ahmadu Haruna, who was represented by his Deputy and Chairperson of Shongom LGA, Hajiya Binta Bello, appreciated the work of UNICEF and other partners over several interventions in the State.
Hajiya Binta Bello, who was supported during the brief ceremony by Egla Idris, Chairperson of Billiri LGA, promised the full support of ALGON in ensuring that the exercise is successfully enshrined in all the LGA’s of Gombe State.
End.
