Bronwen Manby and Solomon Momoh your community; 7. Birth certificate; 8. Declaration of age; 9. Attestation letter from religious/traditional leader; 10. NHIS ID card; 11. Government staff id card; 12. Registered/ recognised private organisation staff id card; 13. School ID Card private/Public.’38 In October 2019, the Acting Director of the National Identity Management Commission informed Premium Times Newspaper that despite the fact that the national identity card is free, just a little over 37 million Nigerians had been registered, i.e., one third of the estimated 111 million population over the age of 16.39 4.4 The Independent National Electoral Commission The Electoral Act of 2010 (as amended) establishes the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) and gives it the role of creating a voters’ register. The Electoral Act provides that applicants to register to vote should produce one of the following documents: ‘(a) birth or baptismal certificate; (b) national passport, identity card or driver's licence; or (c) any other document that will prove the identity, age and nationality of the applicant.’40 In practice, voters’ cards are used as proof of identity for various purposes, but are not regarded as proof of citizenship: there is also a degree of circularity between the NIMC and Electoral Act lists, with each institution accepting the other’s documents as supporting evidence of citizenship. 4.5 The National Population Commission The National Population Commission was established in 1992, when the birth registration system was restructured, and has responsibility to ensure registration of every child born in Nigeria, including the registration of “a living new‐born child” found exposed.41 The regulations (but not the principal act) require a person registering a birth to provide, amongst other details, the nationality of the mother and (where relevant) the father of the child.42 The regulations do not state whether any particular evidence must be provided as proof of nationality of the parents. As of 2018, an average of only 43 percent of children under five were found to have had their births registered; this reduced to 32 percent in rural areas, and 16 percent among the poorest quintile; only one in five of those registered held a birth certificate.43 Birth registration 38 See https://www.nimc.gov.ng/how-to-enrol-adults/ Premium Times Newspaper, National ID card is free, but only 19% Nigerians are registered – Official. 20 October 2019. Accessed 14/05/2020 via https://www.premiumtimesng.com/news/headlines/358580-national-idcard-is-free-but-only-19-nigerians-are-registered-official.html. Estimate for 16+ population of Nigeria from spreadsheet ‘Population by Broad Age Groups - Both Sexes’, World Population Prospects 2019, UN Department of Economic and Social Affairs, https://population.un.org/wpp/Download/Standard/Population/, accessed 15 May 2020. 40 Electoral Act No.6 of 2010, as amended, section 10(2). 41 Births, Deaths, etc. (Compulsory Registration) Act No. 69 of 1992, section 7. 42 Births, Deaths, Marriages, etc., Regulations, S.I. 9 of 1996, regulations 9 – 14. Under section 12 of the Act, the father’s name and other details are only recorded if the child is born in wedlock, or with his consent. The regulations provide in different places for the nationality of both parents to be recorded, or only of the father (compare regulations 11 and 12) 43 Nigeria Demographic and Health Survey 2018, National Population Commission, Nigeria and DHS Program, Maryland USA, October 2019, section 2.8, available at https://dhsprogram.com/pubs/pdf/FR359/FR359.pdf. 39 RSCAS/GLOBALCIT-CR 2020/12 - © 2020 Author(s) 13