Population commission clarifies N200bn spent on pre-census activities

The National Population Commission (NPC) on Friday explained that the N200 billion so far expended on the pre-census activities spanned a period of nine years.

The Director, Public Affairs, Dr Isiaka Yahaya, who gave the clarification at a press briefing in Abuja, said the sum was total money spent since 2014.

According to him, the commission conducted Enumeration Area Demarcation (EAD) exercise across the country, as part of preparations for the 2023 census, which he said, the NPC “implemented in phases on an incremental basis spanning over a period of eight years.

“The EAD involved the division of the 774 Local Government Areas of the country into Enumeration Areas. The Enumeration Area Demarcation was done digitally from 2014 to 2022.

“Given the size of Nigeria, carrying out such expansive field operations must of necessity come with a huge cost.

“Major cost elements in the EAD project include the acquisition of high-resolution satellite imageries of the entire land space of Nigeria and equipment, deployment of logistics across the country and training and deployment of tens of thousands of ad-hoc workers for several months to carry out the field operations,” he said.

The NPC’s spokesperson further stated that the commission conducted two pretest exercises in 36 states of the country and Abuja, between May and December 2021, while a trial census was conducted in July 2022.

According to him, “These test runs cost huge amounts of money in terms of training, deployment of personnel, and procurement of equipment and software.

“The trial census was a dress rehearsal of the main census and was conducted to assess the overall preparedness for the conduct of the 2023 Census and it took place in all the 36 states of the federation and the FCT with over 13,000 personnel trained, deployed and paid allowances for the training and fieldwork for about one month.”

Also, Dr Yahaya explained that because the commission plans to conduct a digital census, it acquired hardware equipment and appropriate software, such as computers, laptops, desktops, printers and solar power systems.

“The commission developed numerous softwares not only for census operations but also to manage its processes,” he said, disclosing that “the software procured for the census include Censuspad and CSentry for data collection, Azure Cloud Infrastructure for managing data storage, security and processing and Environmental Systems Research Institute (ESRI) geospatial data for integration, analysis and utilisation.

“Other software acquired include an enumeration dashboard for monitoring of data quality and coverage geospatial dashboard, recruitment portal, logistics management information system and Mobile Device Monitoring System.

“The most significant hardware for the 2023 Census is the Personal Digital Assistant (PDA) or tablets to be used for data collection and transmission during the census. The commission procured a total of 810,000 for the 2023 census.”

Other areas the N200 billion was expended, according to him, including the procurement of vehicles, motorcycles and boats for the movement of personnel and equipment across the country, as well as the renovation and equipment of all the 37 state and 774 Local Government offices of the commission.

“Conducting a digital census requires a constant supply of electricity not only in the cities but also in the hinterland and hard-to-reach areas of the country for charging of PDAs and other equipment.

“Given the epileptic nature of power supply across the country, the commission procured generators, power banks and installed solar power systems across the country,” he said.

The NPC spokesperson said the commission has nothing to hide, adding that the expenditures were verifiable and the commission’s books open for public scrutiny.