A new baby comes with a small stack of paperwork attached, spread across more than one agency. Doing it in a sensible order saves you repeating steps later.
Step 1: register the birth
Start with NPC. Within 60 days of the birth, under the law that governs civil registration. This route covers children aged 0 to 17.
NPC's requirement is the child's NIN and a parent's attestation number. That's the core of it: nothing from the child directly, since a parent's own NIN can stand in for one the child doesn't have yet.
Birth registration deadline in Nigeria covers that timing rule in full, including what happens if life gets in the way and you miss it.
Step 2: NIN enrolment for the child
Once the birth is on NPC's record, enrolling the child for their own NIN is the natural next step.
We've written a dedicated guide on this exact step. NIN for children: what parents should know covers what's involved, rather than repeating it here.
Step 3: a first passport, later
Not every newborn needs a passport right away. When the time comes, a child's passport application has its own document list and its own consent rules, separate from the two steps above.
Documents for a child's Nigerian passport sets that out properly. Treat it as a later, separate errand, not something to rush alongside the birth registration itself.
Why this order makes sense
Each later step tends to lean on the one before it. A NIN application benefits from a birth already on NPC's record. A passport application, in turn, often asks for identity documents that assume a NIN already exists.
Working through them in sequence means you're not stuck waiting on one office for a document another office already has on file elsewhere.
What doesn't have to wait
None of this needs to happen in one single week. Registering the birth close to the deadline is the one step with a real time pressure attached. NIN enrolment and a first passport can follow at a more realistic pace.
Keep copies of everything as you go. The birth certificate, in particular, gets asked for repeatedly across the steps that follow it, so a scanned copy saved somewhere safe is worth the five minutes it takes.
Common mistakes
- Trying to apply for a NIN before the birth is registered with NPC.
- Rushing a first passport application before the earlier documents are settled.
- Losing track of which parent's NIN was used to register the birth.
- Assuming every step has the same urgency as the birth registration deadline.
- Letting a small spelling difference creep in between the birth certificate and later NIN or passport paperwork.
For more on each of these NPC and family document steps, see our diaspora and life events hub.