The National Population Commission (NPC) says the harmonisation of marriage and divorce registration in Nigeria is aimed at improving access to essential services and providing reliable data for national development.
Mrs Mary Ishaya-Afan, the Commission’s Overseeing Commissioner, stated this on Wednesday in Kano during the North-West Zonal Consultation on the Draft Harmonised Protocol for Marriage and Divorce Registration in Nigeria.
Ishaya-Afan, who was represented by the Director of Civil Registration and Vital Statistics, Mrs Anthonia Eze, said the commission was not seeking to produce another policy document but to establish a functional national framework for effective marriage and divorce registration.
She said the initiative would strengthen institutional coordination, improve the quality and availability of vital statistics and enhance the protection of individual and family rights.
According to her, marriage and divorce are not merely social or cultural events but legal acts with far-reaching implications for individuals, families and communities.
Ishaya-Afan explained that proper notification, registration and certification of such events were essential for protecting rights relating to spousal support, child custody, inheritance, property ownership and other legal entitlements.
The commissioner added that reliable marriage and divorce records would provide vital statistics for evidence-based planning, social protection, prevention of child marriage, gender equality and effective public service delivery.
She, however, noted that registration processes remained fragmented, with different institutions operating separate procedures, forms and record-keeping systems.
The commissioner explained that the zonal consultations were designed to obtain wider stakeholder input and ensure that the final protocol reflected national standards and the practical realities of diverse communities.
Ishaya-Afan urged participants to identify legal, institutional, cultural, gender, accessibility and data-protection challenges that could affect the implementation of the proposed framework.
She called for stronger collaboration among government ministries, the judiciary, local governments, faith-based and traditional institutions, civil society organisations and other relevant stakeholders.
Also speaking, the Deputy Director of Civil Registration and Vital Statistics, Mrs Adaku Obodo, said the exercise was aimed at harmonising procedures for the digital registration of marriages and divorces nationwide.
Obodo said marriage and divorce registration had not been adequately covered in the commission’s civil registration activities since its inception.
She said accurate data on marriages and divorces would support national development planning and help stakeholders understand the underlying causes of divorce, as well as develop appropriate measures to address them.
The News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) reports that the exercise is being supported by the United Nations Population Fund (UNFPA).
