The National Population Commission (NPC) said it has advanced reliable technological innovations to prevent politicians and interested elites from manipulating the 2023 general census.
The Commission had in April announced that the general census would commence after the 2023 elections. it will be the first-ever digitally compliant population and housing census in Nigeria.
The NPC is responsible for producing data about the Nigerian people and economy and the last population and housing census in Nigeria took place in 2006.
The total population in Nigeria was estimated at 206.14 million people in 2020, according to the latest census figures and projections from Trading Economics.
According to Deji Ajayi, Commissioner, NPC at a press conference: “The commission has intensified preparatory activities deploying technological innovations on a massive scale to conduct a truly scientific census that will not only be accurate and reliable but also transparent and acceptable to all Nigerians.
“It will be an entirely paperless exercise. No document will be brought to interview people as it will be digital. We will ensure that we have a seamless census.
”He also revealed a total of one million Nigerians would be recruited by the Federal Government for the conduct of the 2023 national census.
The former Ekiti State’s head of service added that nine towns across nine local governments selected out of the 16 LGAs in the state, had been delineated into Enumerated Areas (EAs) to ease the trial census. He pointed out areas to be enumerated in the trial census as Ado, Emure, Iro, Ijero, Ikole, Iworoko, Ise, Ikun, and Omuo Ekiti.
Explaining the significance of census to nation-building, Ajayi said population statistics would be used by private organizations to plan for the recruitment of young Nigerians by knowing the number of the active population.
“The government will also use such statistics to plan for our youth, students, and the health needs of Nigerians. They will also know the number of senior citizens who should be catered for.”
Assuring that the exercise will be difficult to manipulate, the NPC boss said, “The biometric technology will capture your face and fingerprints and goes to the server and any similar information supplied will be noticed and expunged from the data immediately.
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