BY CHIDI NKWOPARA

OWERRI- United Nations Children’s Fund, UNICEF, is alarmed that about 70 percent of about five million children born annually are not being registered at birth.

Chief of UNICEF A-Field Office, Enugu, Mr. Charles Nzuki, made the lamentation while flagging off the quarterly meeting of journalists from the 10 states under its jurisdiction.

“They have no birth certificates hence in legal terms, they do not exist. The children’s right to an identity, name and nationality is denied and their access to basic services is also threatened,” Nzuki said.

It was the considered opinion of the Chief of UNICEF A-Field Office, Enugu, that securing children’s right to a nationality will ensure that they have access to basic services, including immunization, health care and school enrolment at the right age.

“Data from birth registration is needed for accurate planning, development and implementation of development policies, especially health, education, housing, water and sanitation, as well as employment,” Nzuki said.

Nzuki reasoned that birth registration is also essential in preventing child labour by enforcing minimum employment age laws; ensuring that children in conflict with the law are not treated like adults, countering child marriage and reducing trafficking.

Speaking also, the Managing Director of Enugu State Broadcasting Corporation, ESBS, Mr. Chinwe Onuorah, urged media practitioners and professionals not to relent in their effort to achieve sustainable growth and development for children and women, whose course UNICEF has ever championed.

“The voice of children and women should be heard. Their plights discussed and rights accorded them. The task is enormous, but I am sure we can do more, using our various media,” Onuorah pleaded.