NPC fixes March 29 to April 2 for population census, assures credibility of exercise powered by technology

Nigeria’s National Population Commission (NPC) has assured citizens that there will be no room for the manipulation of the 2023 population census saying it will conduct a more credible exercise with the aid of available technology.

Chairman of the Commission, Nasir Isa Kwarra, who gave this hint on Friday while speaking with newsmen, after a meeting with President Muhammadu Buhari at the State House, Abuja, also said the technology would make it difficult for anyone to manipulate the exercise.

The NPC boss said the exercise will be different from the past ones marred by controversies as the Commission will be making use of cutting-edge technology, including Global Positioning System (GPS) and satellite images, noting that every building in the country has already been coded for the purpose.

According to him: “This census is going to be different from past censuses. The theory and practice is essentially the same, but we’re using high-end technology to conduct this census and it’s such that nobody can tamper with any figure. Nobody will be counted more than once.

“We’re visiting households to do direct interface with the household, collect data and in the past, in the past, if you’re doing an operational manually, it’s very cumbersome, but this is being aided by technology and I believe it’s going to be transparent and very fast and it is going to be verifiable because we are able to provide data up to the local government, up towards level. So it is something that you can always verify”.

Kwarra said the demarcation of enumeration areas has been completed, affirming that the exercise proper will take place between late March and early April.

He also stated that a portal has been opened by the Commission to recruit ad-hoc staff for the conduct of the exercise, adding that people recruited will be deployed to work in their localities.

Speaking against the worrisome security situation in parts of the country, the NPC Chairman expressed hope that the exercise can be conducted smoothly in the areas affected.

Kwarra also disclosed that the 2023 national population and housing census will hold from March 29 to April 1, 2023.

According to him, “By March 29 to April 2, our staff will be in the field enumerating people”.