The Federal commissioner for Nasarawa state at the National population Commission (NPC) , Mr Silas Agara has assured that Nigeria will not fail in the introduction of digital census come 2023.
The New agency of Nigeria (NAN) announced that Nigeria would hold a population census in 2023, which would be fully digital unlike previous census count, 2023 census would be without the use of paper.
He gave this assurance in an interview with newsmen on Thursday in Karu Local Government area of the state during an inspection tour of training venues for staffs.
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Agara said the training, which began on June 26, will last for 12 days with 5,199 staff and their facilitators in attendance at various centres in Karu, Karshi, Uke and Panda communities, all in the local government area.
In preparation for the digital census, they are to conduct a mock exercise in July, to test run the process and correct errors that may arise before the actual paperless census in 2023.
“I am quite sure we will get it right because of the trainings we have carried out. Our staff have gone through lots of trainings within and out of the country.
We have been able to engage ad hoc staff at different levels and we have equipped them.
Now we are training them again. We have the equipment on ground including Personal Digital Assistant systems for them to use during the field work.
I have seen the trainees in class and met some of them on the field and I can tell you that we have competent hands that can address any issue that may arise during the exercise,” he said.
He said the ongoing training of the staff in selected local government areas in the six geo political zones of the country was aimed at adequately preparing them with knowledge on how a population census is conducted, especially because this would be a paperless one.
This development is a huge one however he assured that Nigerians have nothing to worry about as the commission had put the necessary requirements in place, which he admits has already been mastered in other African countries.