2024 WORLD POPULATION DAY PRESS BRIEFING BY NASIR ISA KWARRA

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The theme of the 2024 World Population Day – “Embracing the Power of Inclusive Data Towards a Resilient and Equitable Future for All” is a reflection of the outcome of both global and regional reviews and evaluations of progress and achievements attained in the last three decades of the implementation of the International Conference on Population and Development (ICPD) Programme of Action (PoA); a decade of the Addis Ababa Declaration on Population and Development (AADPD); and almost two-decades of the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs), among others.

**NPC Chairman Hon. Nasir Isa Kwarra, fnsa**

The outcome reports at national, regional and global levels, particularly in Africa show dearth of data/information and sufficient evidence to explain situations, track implementation, measure achievements, assess the extent of progress and identify benefits and improvements on peoples’ well-being or general socio-economic transformation.
To demonstrate how worrisome the outcome was, the 2024 State of the World Population Report (SWOP), launched in Nigeria on April, 24th this year, dedicated its chapter three titled “Counting Every Stitch” to highlight the importance of inclusiveness in data collection. One of the features under that chapter (pages 76 – 81) was the necessity for African censuses to strive to count everyone.
The theme hinges on the golden rule of the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) agenda with the promise to leave no one behind. Realizing this promise, first requires the existence of data that are timely, credible, reliable, verifiable, comprehensive, well-disaggregated and geo-referenced, to enable a better understanding of who the people that make up the numbers are, where they are located/reside, under what circumstances/situations do they exist/operate, what their ages and needs are, and how data generating institutions or researchers can capture them in their diversity during data collection processes.
Next to that is how these data can or are readily available to all – decision-makers, planners, civil society organizations, businesses and citizens in order to shape policies, direct actions, advise on development options, and permit governments to be held to account, in a way that truly reflects the needs of everyone.
Therefore, for more understanding, inclusive data connotes ensuring that the data we collected or intend to collect should give account of all people (a person or part or a group of people), regardless of their age, gender, ethnicity and location. It’s about closing the data gaps that unintentionally aid inequality; and allow the risk of groupthink, blind spots, biases etc that can impair decision-making and distort outcomes, among others.
It flags two key critical matters and dimensions:
Spotlights/underscore/draws attention to the importance of generating inclusive data;
Spot-checks – if data generating institutions are producing data that are in compliance with the principles of Inclusive data; and by extension
If these institutions have the capacity and wherewithal to generate that class of data of interest or focus.
To provide elaborate meaning and contextually situate the message behind the theme, there is a need to have a broad understanding of data connected with a Resilient and Equitable Future for All –
Resilient – how people are able to quickly recover from shocks, stretches, stress, pressure or traumatic encounters, etc.;
Equity – recognizes each person has different circumstances and needs, meaning different
Groups of people need different resources and opportunities allocated to them in order to thrive. That is to emphasize the need to genuinely recognize and value the uniqueness of and contribution of each individual and group.
It also highlights the principles of Sustainable Development – development that meets the needs of the present without compromising the aspiration of future generations to meet their own needs.
In essence, the 2024 World Population Day (WPD) offers opportunities to look beyond patches of improvements in data collection and analysis and to ask ourselves as data producers whether during data collection in censuses, surveys and registration of civil events the Right Questions are asked. Is our data collection safe for all people? Who is still going uncounted and unaccounted for?
Evaluating our data generating and management systems based on the message behind the theme, Nigeria falls short of the expectations from previous to present data collection expectations, starting with:
Timing of data collection, where the previous census was conducted 18 years ago; resulted in the use of obsolete information that could mislead policy decisions, and planning, thereby compromising resilience in policy measures and rewarding excellence and equality.
Technology deployment and human capacity and capability for quality data collection, analysis, dissemination, availability and data use.
It is when individuals, businesses, groups of persons and the government have access to timely, representative and comprehensive data, mostly sourced from censuses not based on speculations, then and only then they can be guided to make informed decisions and implement actionable plans that will better their lives. For example: women having access to information and services that will enable them to manage their fertility, will lead to reduced maternal death, improve child survival, and facilitate population management to pave the way for achieving demographic transition and realizing Demographic Dividends. Making our Civil Registration Systems functional will guarantee all births and deaths are registered, irrespective of where or when the event occurred, leading to achieving SDG 16.9 – provide legal identity for all, including birth registration, by 2030.
To have the right information/evidence/data for measuring and predicting likely demographic shifts, we need to hold a census that will deploy modern technology to generate timely, reliable and acceptable data required for addressing the different needs of the various population groups and implement interventions that will create opportunities for progress and removes barriers and inhibitions. This will guarantee individuals realize their full potential.
Nigeria needs to strengthen its data-generating institutions; adequately fund periodic data collection exercises that is inclusive and comprehensive; and most importantly provide a legislative frame to engender timely conduct of censuses as well as promote the use of these data to guide policy decisions. Some of the key messages to reflect on going forward, include –
That inclusive and reliable data/evidence can enable ascertaining a peaceful and prosperous future, building of resilient systems and societies;
Data collection and analysis tools should be deployed to facilitate good representation and use of data;
That Nigeria should champion data collection that counts people in their diversity and in all their complexity;
That our data collection exercise, particularly for the upcoming Population and Housing Census would be Inclusive compliant and leaving no one behind.
Permit me to inform you that, Nigeria was among nations that did not have sufficient, comprehensive and inclusive data to evaluate its performance, achievements nor challenges during the regional review of AADPD+10 and for ICPD@30 PoA reporting during the 57th Session of the Commission on Population and Development, early this year.
Therefore, I wish to reiterate that the theme calls for the evaluation of our data-generating systems/institutions; our perceptions on issues of data and has raised a concern we should not ignore, but collectively (government at all levels, individuals, the Civil Society Organization (CSOs), Partners, Donor, leaderships of Religion, Culture and Tradition including the private sectors) resolve it in the shortest possible time.
In conclusion, I seize this opportunity on behalf of the Commission to acknowledge with gratitude the support of the United Nations Population Fund (UNFPA) and the development Research and Projects Center (dRPC) for the convening of the Briefing as well as the contributions of all other stakeholders, partners and donors.