A nationwide head count will hold this year, even as the National Population Commission (NPC) is not sure exactly when it will be in the remaining nine months.
NPC Chairman, Hon. Nasir Isa Kwarra said on Monday in Abuja said the preparations were in top gear.
The commission declared its commitment to positively re-write the history of the exercise through the conduct of accurate, reliable and credible census.
The NPC chairman said at the opening ceremony of a workshop on Census Management Training for Chairman and Honourable Federal Commissioners, which was organised by the Commission in Karu, Nasarawa State, that the NPC would leave would ensure that the results of the census were acceptable to Nigerians and the quality of the data to be generated met international best standards for planning purposes.
Nigeria last conducted a population census took place between 27th November and 2nd December 1991. It then had a Population and Housing Census – the first of its kind – in 2006.
At the workshop, Kwarra said: ‘If we are to align ourselves with the vision and mission statement of the commission, whose vision is to become the population centre of excellence and the most responsive public institution in Nigeria and a mission to be the leading demographic agency in Africa, meeting the data needs of end-users and ensuring robust population quality for national transformation and global competitiveness, then, we must all work assiduously to achieve these goals.
‘Let me use this opportunity to assure my fellow countrymen and women that the National Population Commission is irrevocably committed to positively rewriting the history of censuses in Nigeria and delivering to this great nation an accurate and reliable census that will be purposefully relevant in the drive towards sustainable development’.
He reiterated that preparations for the 2022 Population and Housing Census are on course and the commission was confident that the prospect for an accurate and reliable conduct appeared brighter than ever.
Kwarra then said: ‘This optimism is rooted in the fact that the present commission has taken time to identify and deliberate on issues that stalled past censuses and have resolved to avoid those pitfalls through the adoption of scientific planning and modern digital technology.
‘This new approach will no doubt enhance the credibility of the process by eliminating double enumeration of respondents and improve the accuracy of the census result and the acceptability of the census outcome both locally and internationally.
‘I am therefore appealing to Nigerians to join the Commission in the bid to give our dear country accurate and reliable data through the forthcoming census’.
He said that President Muhammadu Buhari would soon announce the actual dates for the exercise.
He contended that the census exercise could be conducted in 2022 while the nation warmed up for the general elections in 2023.
