The chairman of the National Population Commission, Hon. Nasir Isa Kwarra, has assured Nigerians that the Commission is irrevocably committed to positively rewriting the history of censuses in Nigeria by delivering an accurate, reliable and acceptable census that will be purposefully relevant in the drive towards sustainable national development.
The chairman, represented by the Oyo State Federal Commissioner of NPC, Dr Eyitayo Oyetunji, said this while declaring open the National Compendium of Localities workshop held on Monday at the House of Chiefs, State Secretariat, Agodi GRA, Ibadan, Oyo State.
The workshop was held in collaboration with other stakeholders to finalize and present the final list of localities for the 2023 population and housing census to the grassroots.
The compendium of locality in census taking is said to be a tool for census data dissemination as well as for national planning and development.
Speaking further, the chairman said that the objective of the workshop was to compile all the localities demarcated during the Enumeration Area Demarcation (EAD) on a Local Government Area basis, showing the coverage and location on interactive maps.
This compilation, the chairman stated further, would be presented to stakeholders in the local government areas while the soft copy of the locality list would also be given to the LG chairmen.
“The 2023 Population and Housing Census results will be released up to the lowest level of the Census entities which could be as small as a camp,” Hon. Kwarra added.
He restated the commitment of the NPC to ensuring that everything about the 2023 Population and Housing Census is done rightly and professionally.
In his welcome address, the NPC State Director, Mr Abdulkareem Bello, said that despite the rough experiences of the state officials in the line of duty, they had remained committed to putting their all to ensure a successful population and housing census.
In his goodwill message, the chairman of the Association of Local Governments of Nigeria (ALGON), Oyo State, Hon. Sikiru Sanda urged the population commission to carry out an all-inclusive census in 2023.
He also said that the 33 LG chairmen in the state should be carried along in the planning, while indigent qualified personnel should be engaged in the census exercise.
He urged the Commission to note areas of boundary disputes and ensure that census figures of such places are kept on hold until the issues are resolved.ALSO READ FROM NIGERIAN TRIBUNE