The National Population Commission’s Director of Public Affairs Dr. Isiaka Alada Yahaya has said that there’ll be no Controversy over the 2023 census.
Thank you for reading this post, don't forget to subscribe!
Dr. Yahaya made this known while speaking in a television programme “Development Focus with Jide Ojo” on ITV monitored by Erevision MediaTV in Abuja.
Speaking on controversies that characterized previous censuses, Dr. Yahaya said that some of those insinuations are exergerated, stressing that for the 2023 Census as being planned by the National Population Commission is going to be highly scientific and digital census that even the thought of not seeing people, counting hands or counting cows is totally unimaginable in the kind of census that the Federal Government is going to conduct.
He also assured Nigerians that the 2023 Census will be digital, transformative, and so transparent that the thought of all those controversial insinuations of the past will have no place on this one.
Excerpts:
Jide Ojo: You’re the Director Public Affairs, run us through what is National Housing and Population Census?
Isiaka Yahaya:. The project itself is called National Population and Housing Census. First it is a population, but in order to add value to the usefulness of the population census, the housing component is added. And the housing component really looks at how the people live, that’s the people to be enumerated. In order words, they’ll be enumerated in households. The population census will also be looking at facilities within the household, whether they have electricity, water supply and other infrastructures available. That’s why it’s called National Population and Housing Census. The housing component is meant to add value to the instruments of the population census for planning purposes.
Jide Ojo: Can you walk us through the history of population census in Nigeria?
Yahaya: As you all know, population census in Nigeria has a very long history. The first census was conducted in 1861, in the then Lagos colony. Subsequent censuses were conducted in 1881, 1891, and then 1911. There was no census in 1921 because of the World War 1. And then there was census in 1931. There was none in 1941 because of the second World War. And then we had the first modern census in 1953/53. And thereafter, we had censuses in 1962/63 and also 1973, 1991, and last one was in 2006.
Jide Ojo: It’s been a long history, agreed, but there are controversies that arise from population. But before we go into the controversies, why does the country have to conduct population and housing census, what is the usefulness?
Yahaya: Well, basically, a population census is about the people. We want to know the living conditions of people and then use it to plan for their welfare. When you talk about development, you’re also talking about the people because people are the agents and beneficiary of development. So if that is given, it means no development can take place without accurate knowledge of the demography, of how many people we are, the way we live, the literacy status, the occupational status and the age and sex characteristics. So basically, we conduct population and housing census for development.
Jide Ojo: Are you saying that if we’re able to conduct census next year, we’ll not be relying on World Bank, UNICEF and other multilateral agency’s estimates for our population?
Yahaya: Yes, definitely we’ll not be relying on that because we’ll have current and reliable, demographic set of data that we can use for development. But let me just add this, even the development partners that give estimates of population, they use the national census, that’s data from the previous censuses. It’s not as if they come into Nigeria and conduct censuses or they have some other survey. Like the projections that World Bank and other multilateral agencies made was actually based on the 2006 census. And then based on the growth rate, they arrive at a certain figure, but in any case, let me correct this impression that even as it is, we don’t really wait for the development partners to tell us what is the population because when the last census was conducted, certain characteristics were generated. We were able to know the population growth rate. So based on that population growth rate, we’ll be estimating the population until now. So most of the development partners actually take from the projection made by the Commission. As I speak with you, the Population Commission has the projections of the population but you know, like all projections it cannot be accurate, it will be near accurate. And for a rapidly growing population like Nigeria, you cannot continue to rely on projection, so that’s why it’s important that we do a Population Census to get the current and accurate population data.
Jide: You said on two occasions population census could not hold due to World War. Was Nigeria in any way affected at that time? But even if we take the modern era, post-independence population census, it has also not been regular. That 10-years timeframe has not been kept. Why is that?
Yahaya: Well, this is a very big question. And it’s actually a question beyond what the National Population Commission can provide answer to. Yes, you’re right. Census was conducted in 1991 and another one did not happen to until fifteen years later, that’s in 2006. And after the 2006, we all expected that there’ll be another census in 2016, but here we are, 2022, sixteen year counting, and then, the only hope is that we’re going to have the census seventeen years after.
It would have been the wish of National Population Commission to have the censuses conducted on regular basis. In fact, immediately after the 2006 census, machinery was set in motion for the conduct of the next census in 2016, but you know, the National Population Commission, of course it’s an independent body, but that decision to conduct the census does not absolutely lie with the National Population Commission. In other words, there are authorities at the higher level who will have to give the go-ahead. They’ll also need to provide the funds. So if the funds and the go-ahead is not given, there’s nothing the National Population Commission could have done. And in any case, you know, ours is to conduct the census. The authority, they look at the wider picture. Perhaps, looking at this wider picture, you know, they felt the time was not ripe for the census. But we’re not in a position to comment on that. We’re also delighted that a bill is under consideration at the National Assembly to have the census conducted on a regular basis. So we’re hoping that this bill will scale through and that the censuses will also be conducted on a regular basis, like the election which we have every four years.
Jide: Now let’s go to the controversies. From history, we saw that most of the previous censuses have been utterly disputed, just like our elections. And people say, oh, there’s no way you can have an accurate census, these are just estimates that Enumerators who are like poll workers, sometimes they just sit in one bar or beer parlour and just fill the forms. And there’s no means of verification whether they actually did the counting. And that in some parts of the country people are counting hands and counting legs without seeing the people that they’re counting. All manner of things which I believe you also must have read in the literature. So what is going to be different for 2023, and what kind of confidence are you giving Nigerians that it’s not going to be business as usual?
Yahaya: Thank you very much for this important question. Yes, you’re right to say that censuses or census results have always been controversial in Nigeria. Well, this is quite unfortunate situation because ordinarily, census should be a technical exercise which only provide information for planning purpose. But because of the linkage of population figures with political representation and allocation of economic resources, we have this unfortunate situation of the politicisation of census. You know, because of this, census has also been a victim misinformation, fake news and all those things that are not true. If you have this kind of sensitive assignment as census there’s hardly anything you can do to avoid misinformation and disinformation. Well, I’ll not be in a position to talk about what happened and what did not happen in the last census. Of course, it’s obvious that some of those insinuations are exergerated and they don’t have any scientific basis. But for the 2023 Census, you know, we’re going to conduct a highly scientific and digital census that even the thought of not seeing people, counting hands or counting cows is totally unimaginable in the kind of census we’re going to conduct.
First of all, we’re going to deploy technology on a massive scale. You know, the idea or the image of a census worker that we all have is that one that will be carrying bags, moving from house to house writing with Biro, I mean, this will not happen. First, we’re going to use what we called Personal Digital Assistance. That will be the primary means of collecting information. And so, the Enumerators will be trained on this and they take information…but one thing about the Personal Digital Assistant (PDA) is that the data is being streamed live. As the Enumerator is counting, the data is going back to the main server and is being watched. So as the enumeration process is going on, the Enumerator is under the radar. So it’s not possible for the Enumerator to even leave where he’s counting and then to go and be filling the forms like it used to happen because the Personal Digital Assistant is geofenced. In other words, all the PDAs we’re going to use, they can only work within the area where they have configured to work. Not only that, the PDA will also be configured to work within a certain period. In other words, if enumeration is going to start 8 o’clock and then ends at 5 or 6 o’clock, it’s not possible for the Enumerator to begin to input names into the PDA at odd hours when malpractices are always done. And we have a lot of checklists that I’ll not be able to disclose everything, but be rest assured that the kind of census we’re conducting is going to be digital, it’s going to be transformative, and it is also going to be transparent that the thought of all those insinuations of the past will have no place on this one. And one thing we have also realized is that for people to have confidence in the census process, they need to be educated on the methodology for them to understand what we’re putting in place. And if they know this, we believe that their confidence will be enhanced in the process and they’ll believe the result that comes out of the process.
Edited by Robinson Erebi
To Be Continued…
Kindly share
