From Okey Sampson, Umuahia
Abia State Director of the National Population Commission (NPC) Mrs Juliana Ezebuiro has tasked the state government on the 2023 census, saying demographic wrongs of yesteryears in the state must be made right.
Ezebuiro who gave the task in Umuahia during a training workshop for Journalists on the 2023 Census, said “the state must right the wrongs of yesteryears Demographically as Abia cannot afford to lose out this time around”.
Ezebuiro said the training was aimed at creating awareness of the 2023 Census Preparatory activities.
Such activities she said include Enumeration Area Demarcation (EAD), Pre–Test, the Trial Census, the main Census and the Post Enumeration Survey (PES).
She said the training would also facilitate a common and deeper understanding of the principles applied, the strategies adopted and activities to be implemented under the advocacy and publicity components of the 2023 Population and Housing Census.
It would also “deepen the understanding of Journalists and other media activists; devise regulations and guidelines for the implementation of activities in the Advocacy and Publicity Workplan in the 2023 Census and also galvanize the support of the stakeholders of Abia State and the general public through the National Slogan of the 2023 Population and Housing Census which says ‘You Count, Be Counted'”.
In his lecture, a veteran journalist, Allison Obiajunwa described the population census as a news-filled event; not a dry beat.
“There are several angles that can be explored at any given time. Official and non-official, national versus zonal, news materials of formal events like opening ceremonies of EAD, training programs, trial census and also press conferences and informal or passive source based on observations”.
Ikenna Nwachukwu, a demographic expert said the Commission will explore digital tools to work towards ensuring that data analysis is completed soon after the end of data collection and data/results made available to data users through a variety of platforms.
“The efficiency of cloud computing and enterprise software will be leveraged for timely analysis of the Census data. With the aid of technology, Census products such as Shapes-files (GDB), Thematic maps, and data in Integrated online databases will be available to the public in addition to preliminary and basic reports after the Census”.
Nwachukwu said the 2023 Population and Housing Census (PHC) will be Nigeria’s first digital census.
“The adoption and deployment of these digital technologies as highlighted in line with UN principles and recommendations will engender confidence in the entire Census process, thereby ensuring that the Census data produced is reliable and accepted for use in development planning for the country”, Nwachukwu said.
Dwelling on the history of the census in Nigeria, Deputy Director of Publicity, Josephine Ucheji, informed that the census was first conducted in Nigeria in 1866 following the enactment of a Census Ordinance in 1863 by the British colonial government.
“The census covered only the Colony of Lagos. From then on, censuses took place after every ten years (decennially) in 1871, 1881, 1891, and 1901. These censuses like the 1866 census covered only the Colony of Lagos and its surrounding areas”.
She regretted that in Nigeria, the conduct of population censuses over the years have been fraught with many challenges due to the perception of many people as to what a population census should or should not be.