The commitment of the National Population Commission to provide the nation with a wide range of demographic data for planning purposes received a boost as the Board of the Commission at its 150th Ordinary Meeting of 28th October 2015 approved the inclusion of marriages and divorces in its Civil Registration and Vital Statistics (CRVS) programme.
The
Commission also approved the proposed statutory marriage and divorce
registration forms as instruments to be used for the registration of the
two events.
The
registration of marriages and divorces will facilitate the transition
of the vital registration programme of the Commission to civil
registration and vital statistics, which is consistent with the United
Nations Economic Commission for Africa (UNECA) protocol which stipulates
that a CVRS must register not less than four vital events.
Registration
of marriages and divorce yields benefits for the nation and the
individuals. At the national level, it provides data on prevalence,
trend and rates of marriages and divorces and this will be useful in
planning the health particularly reproductive health, education and
social security sectors.
At
the individual level, marriage registration and certification is
particularly important for women and children. Proof of marital status
provides them with legal protection from discrimination in enjoying the
benefits accorded by marital union.
In some situations, marriage registration and certification confers upon a child his or her status of legitimacy and the right to inherit property from his or her parents. Birth certificates, coupled with laws that set the minimum age for marriage, help to prevent child marriages and their devastating consequences.
In some situations, marriage registration and certification confers upon a child his or her status of legitimacy and the right to inherit property from his or her parents. Birth certificates, coupled with laws that set the minimum age for marriage, help to prevent child marriages and their devastating consequences.
Also,
Divorce certificates are important for alimony (spousal support), child
custody, child support, distribution of property and division of debt.
Divorce registration also allows the divorced parties to marry others.
The
inclusion of registration of marriages and divorces has expanded the
scope of the vital registration programme, which the Commission has
implemented since 1989. Births and deaths are being registered
throughout the country and certificates issued free of charge.
Recently,
the coverage of birth and deaths registration has been increased with
the engagement of 451 ad-hoc registrars to speed up the mop-up of the
backlog of registration and register the new ones that occur on a daily
basis in the 4440 Civil registration centres established nationwide.
Other
steps taken to boost the registration of births and deaths include the
development and use of Rapid-SMS dash board for monitoring birth
registration on real time basis and collaboration with the National
Primary Health Care Development Agency (NPHCDA) using the National
Immunization Programme as a vehicle for registration of births.
Simon Otene
Director Public Affairs
National Population Commission
Abuja
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