According to the National Population Commission, the future housing and population count in 2023 will include counting the mentally ill, the homeless, and every other living thing in Nigeria.
At a one-day capacity-building workshop for the 2023 population and housing census publicity committee on Wednesday in Akure, Prince Diran Iyantan, the NPC Federal Commissioner representing Ondo State, made this statement.
Iyantan clarified that the workshop’s goal was not to question the professionalism of the members of the PR committee while assuring Nigerians that the census in 2023 would be at least 98 percent successful.
“But it is to enhance their capacity to deliver on their mandates.”
Due to the public’s psychology, he said, the committee was one of the most crucial committees for the exercise.
This, he claimed, was due to the fact that many people were typically hesitant to enroll in government programs.
“Because of the importance of this exercise, our governor, Oluwarotimi Akeredolu, thought it wise to assemble the committee with seasoned professionals to have a seamless exercise in the state.”
The State Director of NPC, Mr. Oluyemi Falusi, noted that the digitalization of the census was in line with UN recommendations when speaking about the digital advancements in the 2023 census.
According to Falusi, the 2023 exercise would be Nigeria’s first digital census, and it will allow for quicker processes, decrease mistake, track progress, assure efficiency, and ensure rapid release of results, among other benefits.
He described how all of the exercise’s processes—including training, recruiting, deployment, conduct, analysis, and publication—were totally digitalized.
Falusi added that a strong monitoring and assessment system had been established, along with a 5-tier approach
He stated that the state would have a call center and a situation room to monitor the exercise’s daily progress.
In order to ensure that reports were produced immediately, he added that data analysis would be carried out right away using the digital technology tools that were available.
The conduct of the population census in the nation, according to Dr. Olufunbi Olowookere, head of the state’s census department, had been irregular.
The country’s present population counts, according to Olowookere, were derived from postulations and estimates, which is why a census of people and houses must be conducted in 2023.
She outlined the necessity of the census for the formulation of governmental policies as well as economic and sociopolitical planning.
She claimed that Nigeria’s land mass had been divided up for the exercise, and that professionals in the fields of health, agriculture, commerce, education, and other fields could use the data obtained from it.
The state’s head of public affairs, Mrs. Santos Odunayo, said journalists in the state had received training to produce more expert media material when she was asked how to create media content for the exercise.
“They have also been trained to inform, educate, enhance acceptability and refute negative perceptions and wrong criticisms of the exercise.”
She stated that by providing the public with pertinent information, the media played a crucial role in the process.
She continued by saying that the commission relies on the media to win over the people and guarantee the process’ complete success.
Ondo State House of Assembly Committee on Information Chairman Mr. Olugbenga Omole, Ondo State NUJ Chairman Mr. Leke Adegbite, and Ondo State Christian Association of Nigeria (CAN) State Chairman Rev. Father Anselm Ologunwa were all in attendance at the workshop. (NAN)
