Ahead of the 2023 Population and Housing Census, the Chairman of the National Population Commission (NPC), Nasir Isa Kwarra has assured that the Commission will avoid past censuses’ pitfalls.
To achieve this, he said the Commission has adopted scientific planning and modern digital technology.
He gave the assurance while declaring open the National Level Training of Training Centre Managers and Administrators for the 2023 Population and Housing Census in Abuja.
“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,” he said.
In view of this, he stressed the need for a shift in national attitude that sees census data as a tool for seeking economic and political advantages.
Rather, he urged Nigerians to strive to discover the real essence of the census data as a treasure of information and compass in the effort to build and plan a greater and prosperous Nigeria.
“Our vision of the 2023 census has been designed to produce not only accurate, reliable and acceptable census but also inclusive and user-friendly census data. This desire has informed the scope and quality of preparations made for the census thus far.
“Census is a national event and is the responsibility of every citizen to participate by presenting themselves to be counted. The Commission will no doubt, need the support of all stakeholders to deliver to the country credible and reliable data it can use for sustainable development planning,” he added
On the other hand, he noted that the Commission has invested considerable time and resources in planning for the successful conduct of the 2023 Population and Housing Census.
He said this has culminated in the development of a Census Strategic Implementation Plan of action detailing a whole range of activities to be carried out in the pre-census, actual census, and post-census stages.
He identified one of such fundamental activities to be the management and administration of training centres which are critical to the successful execution of the exercise.
Kwarra further disclosed that the Commission has fully adopted the Training Centre Management and Administration approach to coordinate and manage training activities in over 35,000 classes during the period of the census and at different levels.
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