The Nigeria’s National Population Commission (NPC) has assured Nigerians that the 2023 population census will not be manipulated.
The NPC plans to conduct a more credible exercise with the aid of available technology.
According to the Chairman of the Commission, Nasir Isa Kwarra, technology will make it difficult for anyone to manipulate the exercise.
He made this statement during a meeting with President Muhammadu Buhari at the State House, Abuja.
The NPC plans to deploy cutting-edge technology, including Global Positioning System (GPS) and satellite images.
Kwarra noted that every building in the country has already been coded for the purpose and that the exercise will be different from past ones that were marred by controversies.
“This census is going to be different from past censuses. The theory and practice are essentially the same, but we’re using high-end technology to conduct this census and it’s such that nobody can tamper with any figure. Nobody will be counted more than once.
“We’re visiting households to do direct interface with the household, collect data and in the past, in the past, if you’re doing an operational manually, it’s very cumbersome, but this is being aided by technology and I believe it’s 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 wards level. So it is something that you can always verify”, Kwarra said.
According to Kwarra, the process of demarcating enumeration areas has been completed and the population and housing census will take place between late March and early April.
He also announced that the Commission has opened a portal for the recruitment of ad-hoc staff to assist with the census in their local communities.
Despite concerns about security in certain regions, Kwarra expressed optimism that the census will be able to proceed smoothly.
He also revealed that the 2023 national population and housing census will take place from March 29th to April 1st, 2023, with staff beginning their fieldwork on those dates
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