The National Population Commission (NPC) has opened a nationwide digital portal that allows Nigerians to register births and deaths online, marking a major step in the country’s efforts to modernise civil registration and improve access to legal identity services.
The Chairman of the Commission, Dr. Aminu Yusuf, announced the rollout of the Electronic Civil Registration and Vital Statistics (E-CRVS) system and the VitalReg portal during a press briefing in Abuja, saying the platform became operational across the 36 states and the Federal Capital Territory on July 1, 2026.
Yusuf said the portal enables users to register births and deaths, obtain certificates where applicable, and access registration services online without the need for physical visits in many cases.
He said the digital system is expected to improve service delivery through faster processing, round-the-clock access, better data validation and a more secure national civil registration database, while reducing paperwork, waiting time and travel for applicants.
According to him, Nigeria records about five million births each year, but birth registration coverage stands at about 57 per cent, while fewer than 20 per cent of deaths are officially registered, leaving significant gaps in the country’s demographic records.
To improve coverage, Yusuf said the commission has established 4,011 registration centres across the country’s 774 local government areas and is working to expand the number to about 8,000 nationwide.
He added that the commission is collaborating with the Association of Local Governments of Nigeria (ALGON), the National Identity Management Commission (NIMC), UNICEF and Barnksforte Technologies Limited to decentralise birth registration and legal identity services at the community level.
Yusuf said the VitalReg portal is designed to integrate with Nigeria’s digital identity ecosystem to support the Federal Government’s digital transformation agenda. He added that while some specialised services such as certificate reissuance, record modifications and verification requests will attract reviewed fees, birth registration and birth notification services will remain highly subsidised.
He urged parents and other stakeholders to register births and deaths promptly, saying accurate civil registration is essential for legal identity, national planning, effective governance and the delivery of public services.
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