Toto Festival: NIRA encourages early birth registration to ease future verification
Leading the NIRA team that is part of the Toto Christmas Festival 2025, he explains that the team is carrying out fresh registrations for children and renewals for adults, alongside other civil registration services such as death registration.
Registering children is straightforward because only the parent’s ID is required. (Photos by Patrick Kibirango)
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Richard Aballa is an assistant registration officer at the National Identification and Registration Authority (NIRA) head office in Kampala.
He manages the births and adoptions department, in charge of the VIP section. It primarily serves pregnant mothers, sick children, the elderly, and individuals referred by government officials.
Leading the NIRA team that is part of the Toto Christmas Festival 2025, he explains that the team is carrying out fresh registrations for children and renewals for adults, alongside other civil registration services such as death registration.
According to Aballa, registering children is straightforward because only the parent’s ID is required. However, adults must present an LC1 letter signed and stamped by the District Internal Security Officer (DISO) from the area where they reside.
He adds that issuing birth certificates is also done on-site, provided the child has a NIN or a birth notification record, as well as at least a photocopy of the parent’s ID.
Payment varies by age: registration for children aged zero - six months is free. For seven months to six years, the fee is sh10,000; for seven to 18 years, one pays sh20,000; and for those above 18 years, the cost is sh50,000.
Aballa emphasises that the zero-to-six-month free registration window is meant to encourage early registration.
He notes that embassies often write to NIRA questioning why some individuals only register at 18 years of age, which creates challenges during verification.
The Toto Christmas Festival is taking place at Kampala Parents School in Naguru and is sponsored by Ruparelia Group, Sums, NIRA, Toyota, Pepsi and Indomie.
Entry is sh10,000 per child.
