By Chukwudi Nweje
Federal Commissioner, National Population Commission (NPC), Mrs. Abimbola Salu-Hundeyin has said that the 2023 Population and Housing Census scheduled to hold between March 29 and April 2 this year will usher in a new Nigeria.
Speaking yesterday at a 1-day interactive round table capacity building and discussion workshop with media practitioners on effective reporting of the census, in Lagos, Salu-Hundeyin noted that the 2023bcensus will be remarkably different from the previous ones in the use of technology.
She said, “The National Population Commission is heavily leveraging on modern technology to drive this 2023 Population and Housing Census. The delineation of Enumeration Areas (EAs), will rely on the most modern Satellite Imagery with resolution as high as 0.5 meters. Hand held devices running on operating system called “EADPAD” will also be adopted. In this way, it was impossible for a demarcator to intentionally omit or import a dwelling unit or structure on the imagery. “The basic elements that allow the identification of features were also highlighted with the location, size, shape, tone/colour, pattern and site/association of these structures. In this way, the whole landmass of the Country has been fully covered and demarcated into Enumeration Areas.
“Secondly, the development of the Census Instruments have been driven by technology. The questionnaires and other Forms have been digitalized and located in hand held devices. The data processing software, “Census and Survey Processing” (CSPro) has been fine-tuned and incorporated to the EADPAD to have a robust “CensusPad” that is unique to the Country. Through this process, paper entry has been eliminated as the software is robust enough to take features of the housing unit and the households together. The whole process has been pre-tested and has passed all quality checks.
“Other innovations in the 2023 Census include online data quality monitoring and evaluation process, enumeration tracking through the Dashboard, hybrid technologies to reach hard to count areas or populations and hybrid learning processes that involved self-learning, virtual learning and in-person training exercises.”
She urged Nigerians to actively participate in the exercise, describing it as the oxygen that will help Nigeria breathe.
She stated that the exercise would enable the government plan adequately for the people.
She further said, “When there is no oxygen people will die. The census is the oxygen through which the country breathes to live. It is an all-encompassing project that covers every aspect of the society from the age to the gender that provides the data that will enable the government plan adequately for the people.
“Unlike other national events like the elections in which participation has age barriers the census is open to people of all ages, including newborns, infants and children. The census will capture everybody including the mentally challenged. The most important date captured in the census is the age and the gender.
On the importance of the census, she said, “Firstly, census data is used for planning and implementation of social and economic development. It also encompasses administrative activities too. Secondly, census provides reliable data, at the smallest unit of society, either localities, Supervisory Wards, Towns, Cities, etc. or at the least delimited area of the Enumeration Areas (EAs). Census data is also reliable in boundary delineation for electoral and administrative units. Hence, it is only population census that can reveal growth or decline in electoral wards/constituencies without arguments.
Also, census data encompasses comprehensive information about housing stock and the quality of housing available to various sectors of the society such as rural/urban, residential/non-residential, economic/administrative, and so on.”
She stated that the census will help Nigeria see a clearer picture of herself and enable the government adequately plan for the people.
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