What a Birth Certificate Unlocks
A birth certificate is the first legal document of a person's life. Without it, a child can struggle to enrol in school, access healthcare, prove their age, inherit property, or obtain a passport and national identity later in life. Registration is not paperwork for its own sake — it is the gateway to every other right.
Why Births Go Unrecorded
The barrier is rarely unwillingness. It is distance, cost and information: a family in a remote ward may live hours from the nearest registration centre, may not know registration is needed, or may simply never be asked. The system traditionally waits for families to come to it.
What CBAS Changes
CBAS turns the model around: instead of waiting for the family, the system learns about the birth from within the community itself. A trained notifier — someone the family already knows — sends the alert, and registration officers and health workers come to the child.
- Speed. Births are reported in hours, not months — early enough for timely immunization.
- Reach. Notifiers live where the births happen, including communities no registration desk can see.
- Accountability. Every alert is tracked from submission to registration, with nothing lost in between.
- Health linkage. Alerts carry health indicators, so newborns and mothers who need attention are flagged on day one.
Who Carries the Programme
CBAS is implemented by the National Population Commission as a programme of the Federal Government of Nigeria, with UNICEF as technical partner. It complements Nigeria's civil registration system — every alert is designed to end in an official registration, not to replace one.
There Is a Place for You in This System
Whether you serve a community, an LGA or a ministry — the programme office wants to hear from you.
