By Adedapo Adesanya
Nigeria will start its first national census in 17 years at the end of March as the National Population Commission (NPC) has fixed the national population and housing census for March 29 to April 2, 2023.
The NPC chairman, Nasir Kwarra, disclosed this while speaking with State House reporters after a meeting with President Muhammadu Buhari at the Presidential Villa, Abuja, on Friday.
“By March 29 to April 2, our staff will be in the field enumerating people,” he said.
Nigeria’s estimated population is more than 200 million, and the United Nations expects that to double by 2050. That would make Nigeria the world’s third most populous country, overtaking the United States.
The census was initially targeted for 2021, but authorities postponed the process on the grounds of widespread insecurity, especially in the north, where an Islamist insurgency and kidnappings for ransom have been raging.
Mr Kwarra added that the technological tools to be deployed would be able to code buildings and landmass, detailing information such as location and landscapes, among others.
The NPC chairman, who said his commission would ensure a credible exercise, added that non-Nigerians would equally be counted so long as they were in the country at the time of the exercise.
He said the exercise would be different from the previous ones marred by controversies with high-end technology.
“From March 29 to April 2, our staff will be in the field enumerating people… This census is going to be different from past censuses. The theory and practice are essentially the same, but we are using high-end technology to conduct this census, and it is such that nobody can tamper with any figure. Nobody will be counted more than once.
“We are visiting households to do direct interface with the household, collect data, and in the past, if you are doing an operational manually, it is very cumbersome, but this is being aided by technology, and I believe it is going to be transparent and very fast and it is going to be verifiable because we are able to provide data up to the local government, up to ward level. So, it is something that you can always verify,” he said.
Mr Kwarra said the demarcation of enumerations areas had been completed.
He also said the portal had been opened by the commission to recruit ad-hoc staff for the conduct of the exercise, adding that people recruited will be deployed to work in their localities.
The NPC chairman, while speaking on the security situation in parts of the country, expressed hope that the exercise could be conducted smoothly in the areas affected.
Modupe Gbadeyanka