The National Population Commission (NPC) has expressed its readiness to conduct a credible population and housing census that will be acceptable to all Nigerians.
The commission also assured that it will jealously protect all the preparatory activities and equipment acquired before the postponement of the exercise.
The federal Commissioner of the commission in Ekiti state, Hon Ayodeji Ajayi gave the assurance at a parley with media executives and stakeholders on the postponement of the 2023 population and housing census.
He said the present government will need the outcome of the 2023 census to plan for the development of the country, adding that people of Igbo and Hausa origin were part of the adhoc staff to address language issues.
Ayodeji recalled that , “The immediate past President Muhammadu Buhari, by virtue of the power conferred on him by Section 23 of NPC Act 1989, approved the postponement of the 2023 census from the scheduled date of 3rd to 7th May 2023 but commended the commission for the appreciable progress recorded and urged that preparations for the census should continue”.
The commissioner said the decision of the federal government was welcomed by the by commission in order to give the incoming administration the opportunity to have inputs in to the census process.
“The postponement will give the commission the opportunity to further perfect its processes and systems for the smooth conduct of the first ever digital census”.
Ajayi who noted that the commission had carried out all the preparations towards the census said they are conscious of the enormous human and material resources already expended in the implementation of the preparatory activities.
“The most important task before the commission now, pending presidential proclamation, is to sustain and reinforce the relevance of these activities to the success of the census. This will ensure that the nation does not have to start afresh, the preparations for the conduct of the census thereby saving costs.
“In this regard, the process and system put in place for the census are therefore being currently reviewed to determine what needs to be done to ensure that the preparations do not become obsolete for the census”.
He added that planning for and delivering the 2023 census will not be difficult saying they were not only at immediate need but also concerned about laying a solid foundation for future censuses.
“For example, the Enumeration Area Demarcation (EAD) is undertaken in such a way that only an update will be required for any future census.
“We are deploying equipment that will get us near perfect effectiveness and results.’’
