Abuja: When five-year-old David Osagie arrived at a public primary school in Benin City with his mother for enrolment last September, she carried what she believed was every document her son would ever need. His birth certificate had been issued shortly after birth by the National Population Commission (NPC), bearing a Quick Response (QR) code and existing in the commission’s central digital database. She assumed the school would simply verify the record electronically. Instead, the head teacher glanced at the certificate, accepted the date of birth as presented, and completed the admission manually. No QR code was scanned, no digital record was queried, and no government database was consulted.
According to News Agency of Nigeria (NAN), David’s experience reflects a wider disconnect in Edo and Oyo states, where government agencies have made significant progress in digitising birth registration and expanding the National Identification Number (NIN). Yet, schools continue to rely largely on manual admission processes that cannot communicate with identity databases. The investigation comes at a time when Nigeria is expanding digital identity services. UNICEF emphasizes that birth registration is fundamental to a child’s legal identity and access to education. Nonetheless, experts argue that the inability of government databases to communicate across sectors continues to undermine efficient service delivery.
The findings expose one of the weakest links in Nigeria’s Digital Public Infrastructure (DPI) agenda. While citizen records are being digitised, they remain fragmented across institutions, forcing parents to repeatedly present the same birth certificates and identity documents throughout their children’s educational journey. The Edo State Universal Basic Education Board (SUBEB) confirmed that admission into public primary and junior secondary schools remains entirely manual. Mrs. Ebanehita Omonzane, Executive Chairman of the board, cited the absence of an official verification platform, poor digital literacy among some school administrators, and weak internet connectivity as challenges.
In Oyo State, parents expressed similar frustrations, having to repeatedly submit the same identity documents despite government agencies already having the information. Mr. Kunmi Adepoju noted that although his child obtained a birth certificate shortly after birth, he continued to present the same document at different stages of the child’s education. The absence of a centralised digital record system means schools and government agencies repeatedly request the same documents from parents, students, and even teachers.
Private schools face similar challenges. Dr. Kayode Adeyemi, National Secretary of the National Association of Proprietors of Private Schools (NAPPS), highlighted the lack of a central record for verifying admission documents. He disclosed that Oyo State, in collaboration with the Federal Ministry of Education and development partners, is working on a learner identification system to assign every child a unique learner identification number. Although this initiative aims to reduce duplication and strengthen record integrity, it is still under development.
Efforts are being made to integrate digital identity into education. Mrs. Oyinloye Bamidele, Permanent Secretary, Oyo State Ministry of Education, stated that birth certificates and NIN have become central requirements for school enrolment. However, one of the greatest challenges remains parents’ inability to provide birth certificates, as many births were either never registered or the documents were unavailable. To address this, the ministry collaborates with the National Identity Management Commission (NIMC) for mass registration exercises in schools with large numbers of unregistered pupils.
Stakeholders believe the missing link is no longer data collection but data integration. Mr. Salami Olukayode, Secretary of the Nigerian Union of Teachers (NUT), Oyo State Wing, emphasized the need for government agencies to harmonise identity databases to eliminate repeated requests for the same documents. The investigation indicates that while Nigeria has made progress in digitising birth registration, expanding NIN enrolment, and introducing electronic education records, these systems continue to operate largely in isolation. Until birth registration, national identity, and education databases can communicate seamlessly, thousands of Nigerian children will continue to carry paper records from one classroom to another, despite their identities existing in government databases. (NANFeatures)