By Omenihu Justina
Amidst of sharp responses from numerous Nigerians, the National Population Commission (NPC) has stated that it would adopt a digital process through the aid of Personal Digital Assistance (PDA), to achieve a successful and credible 2023 population and housing census.
Addressing newsmen at the one-day capacity building workshop, in partnership with the National Orientation Agency (NOA), the Honourable Federal Commissioner, NPC, Lagos State, Barrister Bimbola Salu-Hundeyin, noted that the 2023 census would be the first of its kind as the process will be paperless and all-inclusive through the help of technology.
She said: “The 2023 national population and housing census is going to be the first of its kind that has never happened before in Nigeria. It is going to be a digital census, unlike the previous census when we make use of Google maps. In 2023, we will have put all the maps in every locality, in every part of the state, and Nigeria at large into the PDA which includes map-aided directions. For some areas the technology can’t cover, we will also employ hybrid enumeration. We have this time decided to leverage technology once we get your data, it immediately sends to the cloud where it is recorded so we can minimise fraud.
“There will be areas where the network will be a challenge and we will already have backup plans in place. Lagos State has been for many years lamenting they have been undercounted and I feel this process will deliver credibility and also help other state governments to know their population working outside the state and those within the state. If you are caught on the purpose moving elsewhere to be counted, such person will be fined according to the law.”
Speaking on the partnership with NPC, the State Director, NOA, Dr. Waheed Ishola, said the partnership was to ensure the census exercise at the grassroots level is a success.
“With this partnership, we will have a very credible national population census. We have built goodwill in our communities, and we are going to ensure that all the critical stakeholders in the communities are carried along. No one needs to travel from their areas of domicile before they ensure they are counted. We are ready to carry everybody at the grassroots along,” he said.
