The executive chairman of the National Population Commission (NPC), Nasir Isa Kwarra, has tasked enumerators for the trial census to be thorough and to ensure accuracy in data gathering.
Kwarra gave the charge yesterday in Gwagwalada-Abuja, Federal Capital Territory (FCT) and Karu in Nasarawa State, when he declared open a two-day training programme organised by the commission for the enumerators.
He said accurate data would foster quality planning for national development, even as he urged the trainees to show commitment to the training for quality and accurate data collation.
The NPC boss stated that wrong data would mislead planners, just as he urged the enumerators to endeavour to get the correct data in order not to mislead others.
The chairman, who reiterated the commitment of the commission to a digital, credible census, advised the trainees not to let the commission down.
He regretted that Nigeria in the past 16 years had not conducted census, which is inimical to development.
Kwarra affirmed the determination of the commission to continue to support the trainees in capacity building.
Also, the chief technical adviser (CTA) and UNFPA official, Dr Collins Opiyo, described census as key to socio-economic advancement.
Opiyo said no country could develop economically without census, adding that “this census preparation is Nigeria’s step into the next level.”
According to him, census is a game changer, and digital census means the deployment of quality electronic techniques to achieve quality census.
Earlier, the acting director-general of the commission, Mrs Patience Mbagwu, had urged the trainees to take advantage of the training to equip themselves well for the task ahead.
Mbagwu congratulated the trainees for their emergence as enumerators, even as she urged them to always seek accurate and quality data.
