NPC Restates Commitment To Accurate Data Ahead Of Census

The Commissioner, Federal Capital Territory (FCT), National Population Commission(NPC), Hon. Joseph Shazin-Kwali has reiterated that the commission has finalised plans to ensure accuracy in data gathering ahead of the national Census exercise.

Shazin who stated this in an interview in Abuja, disclosed that the commission in it’s efforts to ensure accurate data had carried out Enumeration Area Demarcation ( EAD) in the 36 States of the Federation, adding that it was done in 18 phases between 2008-2023 and has been updated on several occasions.

He continued “Censuses conducted in years past were simply to count families. In this case we are counting and numbering houses this process also includes listing these houses through the Enumeration Area Demarcation process, As it stands the method of gathering data has now been digitised replacing the manual process and this will ensure data are well-captured. Field workers will capture data on a device and send directly to a server.

Plans are also in place to ensure adequate monitoring by experts in quality assurance who are on board to ensure data are well captured on the field in conformity with what is expected.”

“All arrangements have been finalized for the Census except for final training before field workers are deployed to the field.functionaries have been trained in this regard. For instance,
AMAC alone has 6000 enumeration areas and as such to deploy people to cover AMAC, it’s important to take this number into cognisance in assigning the number of field workers, he said.

The commissioner, explained that following the postponement of the Census, the commission has now briefed President Bols Ahmed Tinubu on the progress so far. While adding that the commission has also requested additional funding to proceed, he noted that the President will decide on when to make a proclamation based on his prerogative on the Census and fix a new date.