Rakiya A. Muhammad
A few weeks before Nigeria’s first digital population and housing census, the state of preparedness for conducting the exercise came to the fore in Sokoto State, Northwest Nigeria, highlighting the issues of ‘leaving no one behind.’
Concerns had been rife over insecurity and controversies that undermined the previous census exercises in the country.
However, at a state-level capacity-building workshop for journalists in Sokoto, the National Population Commission NPC State Director Malami Marafa Gagi allayed such fears, assuring effective mechanisms were in place to achieve a credible and reliable census.
He added they left no stone unturned in dealing with critical elements vital to ensuring they count everyone wherever they live.
“We have adopted innovative strategies to ensure we leave no one behind”, collaborated Head of vital registrations Department Jibreel Musa.
He explained that part of the security measures was to use a localised requirement policy. The Commission recruited field staff from communities to conduct the exercises within their localities, being well acquainted with their environments.
He added a major goal for adopting technology was to track and ensure complete coverage of the country during the census and reduce errors in the entire process, including in-field data collection.
“A five-tier data quality assurance process will be implemented, including use of near-real-time enumeration tracking dashboard and online data quality monitoring to ensure collection of accurate data,” he stated.
“Modelling and mapping hard-to-count and hard-to-reach areas in conjunction with workload management strategies will be instituted alongside hybrid census methodologies as part and parcel of strategies for achieving complete coverage.”
He pointed out they accomplished the EAD using GPS-enabled PDAs, Big Data and other geospatial resources, such as high-resolution satellite imageries, that facilitated the collection of fully geo-referenced data on all buildings and households in the country.
“Commission as of today is the repository of the country’s most accurate and reliable geospatial database,” he asserted, noting, among other benefits, EAD can provide information on locations that will assist security agencies in tracking insecurity.
He underscored the imperatives for the conduct of census to the national development process; “Nigeria has one of the fastest growing populations, with a growth rate of 3.2% and an estimated population of over 200 million.
Capturing the essential dynamics of such a rapidly growing population requires regular conduct of censuses, preferably every 10 years as recommended by the United Nations,” he asserted.
“The country’s inability to conduct a population census in the last 16 years has created an information vacuum as the data from the last census conducted in 2006 has been rendered less useful for planning purposes.”
He also noted the need to ensure the implementation of poverty reduction and youth empowerment programmes are driven by current data from the Census data that will improve the performance of initiatives targeting vulnerable populations.
“The continuous usage of the 2006 Census for the estimation of Nigeria’s population has created a data gap in global population which does not do credit to the nation’s reputation,” He said.
“Nigeria is the seventh most populous nation on earth and will be the third most populous country after China and India in 2050, going by the current rate of growth.
“Relying on estimated parameters based on a census conducted 16 years ago to make important decisions to drive the country’s development agenda forward is counterproductive.”
Head of the Public Affairs Department, NPC Sokoto, Hajiya Safiya Abdullahi, recalled that in Nigeria, the conduct of population censuses over the years had been fraught with many challenges due to the perception of many people as to what a population census is or is not.
“The outcome of a population census in terms of size has always thrown up heated exchanges between the various groups within the polity, thereby adversely affecting the growth and development process of the country because the use of such data for planning for national development is always underplayed, “she stated.
“Census taking is a people-oriented exercise; therefore, getting the people involved to participate and own it is paramount to its overall success.”
NPC Federal Commissioner Chiso Dattijo noted the media as critical to ensuring a successful census exercise. “We will not reach the destination without the media.”
Chairman, Nigeria Union of Journalists, NUJ Sokoto, Dalhatu Safiyal Magori expressed their commitment to reporting the processes and outcome of the census effectively.
