NPC Selects 4,068 Enumeration Areas For Trial Census In June

The National Population Commission (NPC) said it has selected a total of 4,068 Enumeration Areas (EAs) for June, 2022 trial census, to test run their suitability and readiness for the actual population and housing census, scheduled to hold in April 2023.  

Executive chairman of NPC, Hon. Nasir Isa Kwarra, disclosed this on Monday in Mararraba, Nasarawa State, when he declared open trainers workshop for the trial census, which holds from May 30 to June 3, 2022.

Kwarra explained that the Trial Census shall cover 30 states and the FCT, while six LGAs shall be selected from six states in the six geo-political zones of the country for full population enumeration, even as 45 EAs shall be selected from each of the 31 states.

He explained further that the trial census tests all phases of the main census, from planning to the execution of the plans, logistics arrangement and management, questionnaire design and format, training procedures, fieldwork operations, publicity, payment system, data processing, data tabulations and analysis.

The NPC chairman added that the trial census, also known as the “census dress rehearsal”, is one of the pre-census activities in which all census operations are tested in a detailed and comprehensive manner.

He stated that the master’s training workshop is designed to train the facilitators, who would in turn carry out the zonal level trainings of the enumerators and other field functionaries in readiness for the trial census.

Kwarra said the objectives of the trial census include, to critically and comprehensively assess the quality and the usefulness of the EA maps that had been created, determine the possible demographic, as well as geographical changes that might have occurred in the EAs carved between 2016 and 2018 and their implications for census taking, and to determine the feasibility of uploading EA maps on the census app for house numbering and household listing as well as population enumeration, among others.

He maintained that the commission would leave no stone unturned to ensure that the Trial Census is carried out meticulously, professionally and scientifically to provide the basis for the smooth conduct of the 2023 Population and Housing Census.

NPC chairman assured Nigerians and the international community of its readiness to conduct a credible, reliable, and acceptable 2023 Population and Housing Census.