The National Population Commission, NPC, has said that the postponement of the May 3rd, 2023 population and housing census, was due to the federal government’s wisdom to conduct census when nerves have been calmed and the next President has been inaugurated.
Director, Public Affairs Department, NPC, Dr Isiaka Yahaya at a media chat in Abuja on Sunday, said having a census is an event that needs enough planning that follows due process.
This was as he urged Nigerians to dismiss misconceptions that the census was postponed due to lack of funding and preparation by the Commission.
According to him, “The census was not postponed but was rescheduled, because preparations for the census have begun already.
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“Some are having the misconception that the census was postponed due to the Commission’s lack of preparation. I want to let Nigerians know that we are prepared and we have done everything that we need to do to deliver this census starting from the enumeration/demarcation, first and second pre-test and the trial census. So the issue of our preparedness is out of it.
“The responsibility for the funding of the census is that of the federal government of Nigeria and they have lived up to expectations in financing all the preparations. And I know that if there was a consensus to proceed with the census, the money will come. We should be very clear that it’s not an issue of funding.
“The federal government has the power to decide whether the census will take place or not, this is a massive exercise and the decision cannot be only for the Commission to make. Hence, the federal government has felt in its wisdom to postpone it.
“The Federal Government might have thought that the conduct of the census is a process. If the nation uses the data for planning then it has to be done well. If the Census is conducted by one government and another government will have the responsibility of utilising it, it won’t be a smooth synergy and transition.
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“Fixing the census after the election, we felt the healing process that we hoped after the election everyone must have accepted the fate. But the rescheduling of the governorship election, limited the period available for this healing process to happen. The federal government in its discretion must have felt to carry out the census after the inauguration of the new administration and after nerves have been calmed.”
Yahaya noted that the nation was not loosing anything by postponing the census but gained a lot by having extra time to continue preparations to have an effective data that will aid planning.
He said, “The kind of preparations we have made for census are so effective to the extent that if we don’t conduct the census now, those infrastructures and facilities we have put in place, will make it successful. The nation is not loosing anything substantial from the census postponement.”
In the same vein, the NPC Census Manager, Dr. Inuwa Jalingo, said the Commission was technically ready to implement the census and that preparation for the exercise continues.
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“We have created the necessary system that is required to implement a digital census. Starting from our software development, which we have developed for the enumeration area demarcation.
“For the success of the census, we have developed systems whereby it doesn’t allow the enumerators go beyond the boundaries in which they are expected to enumerate. So the issue of overlap or under coverage has been taken care of in our planning for this census” he explained.
Jalingo further disclosed that salaries of the adhoc staff of the Commission have been put on hold.
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