The National Population Commission, NPC, has been tasked with conducting a very reliable census in 2023 by Anambra State Governor, Prof. Chukwuma Soludo.
The panel must give the nation accurate, palatable, and credible statistics to support effective and efficient planning, Soludo emphasized repeatedly.
He announced the decision on Tuesday in Awka at the Stakeholders’ Summit on the 2023 Population and Housing Census.
Without statistics, planning is impossible, the governor declared. You cannot alter something if it cannot be measured. Because it will help with future national growth, I want our people to take this census seriously.
“We must know how many people we are anticipating. Every town needs up-to-date information about its residents.
“I ought to be able to ask traditional chiefs and presidents-general how many people live in their villages. The greatest good for the greatest number is the goal of government.
“Since we are a people-serving organization, we concentrate on areas with a higher population. Lots of work needs to be done for the National Population Census. It’s a good thing that you’ve promised to provide digitized, trustworthy, credible, and accepted data.
As well as providing information on the ethnicities, states of origin, and even religions of residents in a certain area, Soludo claimed that census data will assist the government in planning.
We are a nomadic people that travel everywhere, but around the holiday season, more people come back home, he remarked. They occasionally have to return home, so I need to make plans and estimate the amount of people I’ll need.
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“We have avoided facing the truth for unidentified reasons. People extrapolate and fling figures about. We don’t actually know how many individuals we are anticipating.
“We must ensure that the 2023 census is not another chance lost. It’s great that it will use just digital methods. People who interfered with the last census and said that our people shouldn’t be counted ought to stop doing so because it cost our people dearly. One requirement for sharing national resources is population.
Mr. Chidi Ezeoke, the Federal Commissioner for the National Population Agency, addressed at the ceremony and stated that the commission hoped to cover every region in the nation via digital mapping.
He repeatedly stressed the necessity for people to stay put during the census procedure, claiming that security organizations would restrict movement.
