The National Population Commission (NPC) has implored the public to refrain from attaching tribal or political undertone to the 2023 census billed for May.
The commission also insisted that counting of residents would not be done by “proxy or abstract” as only those on ground during the exercise would be counted.
The NPC Federal Commissioner, Ogun State, Yeye Seyi Aderinokun, disclosed this in Abeokuta during a one-day capacity building workshop for journalists on effective reporting of the 2023 population and housing census.
Aderinokun explained that the commission was not a political organisation, noting that its responsibility was to conduct census meant to generate data for economic planning.
The commissioner, who was represented by the state’s Director of NPC, Olushola Adeleye, noted that the commission would be embarking on physically counting of the population, stressing that counting would not be done by proxy.
She explained that the process would be digital as the commission had deployed advanced technological tools to code building and land mass, detailing information such as location and landscape.
She said, “We are not a political organisation. We have the responsibility to conduct a census; it is a research that is meant to generate data for economic planning. We are not ethnic or politically related or motivated.
“The census’ result will be verifiable and it will be digital; we are deploying technological innovation.”
In his presentation, the Deputy Director of Census, Folami Muka, noted that several censuses done in the country had been marred with different complaints because people believed they were politically motivated.
He said, “Getting the people involved to participate and own it is paramount to its overall success. However, in Nigeria, the conduct of population censuses over the years has been fraught with many challenges due to the perception of many people as to what a population census is or is not.
“The outcome of a population census in terms of size has always thrown up heated exchanges between the various groups within the polity, thereby adversely affecting the growth and development process of the country because the use of such data for planning for national development is always underplayed.”
In her paper titled: “Towards Effective Coverage of the 2023 Population and Housing Census”, the General Manager (GM) of NTA, Abeokuta, Mrs Funmi Wakama, urged journalists to be professional in the coverage and also be veritable partners towards a successful outcome of the exercise.