People Now Know That A Census Is Coming – Gloria Izonfuo

Edited By Robinson Erebi

All over the world, census remains a key component for national development. Nigeria has a long history of census taking spanning several decades. The National Population Commission is saddled with the responsibility of conducting Population and Housing Census in Nigeria. In 2006 the population of Nigeria was put at 140.43 million people. According to available statistics, in 2020 Nigeria’s population has grown to over 2 million people. Now, with the approval given to the National Population Commission to conduct another national headcount in 2023, all hands are on deck to ensure the success of a credible census come April 2023.

As part of her sensitization drive for the Trial Census, Hon. Federal Commissioner representing Bayelsa State in the National Population Commission Mrs. Gloria Izonfuo, mni, spoke Daoju White on the Trial Census, it’s importance, the objectives and the whole gamut of census in “NPC Half Hour”, an NTA Public Affairs programme in Yenagoa.

Excerpts:

On what census means to the ordinary man out there:

To the ordinary man out there, census generally would mean headcount but we would say it’s an enumeration of an entire nation or a community. And we’re in Bayelsa now. Like you said, the Council of States have graciously approved that the NPC conduct a census. Usually, census is conducted decennially, that is every 10 years, but we had our last census in 2006. And because in the constitution it says it should be done periodically, so usually, it depends on the government in power for them to give the proclamation for us to have a census. So luckily for us, this time around the Council of States have advised Mr. President to have another headcount, come April 2023, which is why we’re here.

On the objectives of census, particularly the importance of Census:

Census itself is a a planning tool. It’s a tool by which you know exactly what you have within the population because the census covers the ages, the sex, educational qualifications, everything about human beings. But specifically to cover these three issues, it will also cover how we live because this one is a housing and population census. It’ll also look at how we live within our houses, the type of houses, the facilities we have within our houses. Water is inclusive, their source of electricity, communications, telecoms, everything around you. And all this is done so that we know the condition of living of our people in the rural areas and in the urban areas.

You will agree with me that without we knowing all these details, it will be difficult for government to plan. If they don’t have this information at their finger tips, then they’ll not be able to plan accordingly to meet the needs of the people. So one of the major objectives of the census is to bring out this demographic data for government to use. And it’s also necessary for businesses, people also want to site companies, maybe nearness to materials, nearness to the targeted age groups, if they for youths, they know where the youths are more located, if they’re for women, they’re for men, they have their own criteria. But with this census behind them, they can use those figures, the data to also plan for their business strategies. So it’s not only good for the government to use, but for planning, it’s also necessary for the businesses to tap into this and know how they’ll plan their lives.

Infrastructure is a major thing, you know, when you have a census, because it’s a housing census we’ll also know how the people are living. If they need more housing, we’ll go into that, if they need better roads, we”ll go into that. We’ve had censuses that have marked out our roads before now but that also will be repeated again during the census.

On the Trial Census and why he Trial Census?

The Trial Census is our final dress rehearsal before the full census. Before we got to this stage we’ve had different exercises. We’ve had our EAD which is the first line for any credible and acceptable census. In the EADs we’ve demarcated the whole country into little bits where two Enumerators will be able to complete their assignment within the census period. Following the EADs, we’ve had our Pretest 1, we’ve had our Pretest 2, And all these where done to work on our census instruments because right now Nigeria is going to a digital exercise, we’re no more doing paper census. We’re now using Personal Data Assistant (PDA). The interview method has also changed, they’re going to use the CAPI method. CAPI method is the Computer Assisted Assisted Personal Interviewer, meaning that every information they have is already downloaded in the devices they’re carrying around and all the questions, the Pad, has already been downloaded. So going to go round using this, and because it’s a new thing they’ve had to test it a few times. And after that, we’ve also had to do some updates within the local governments, especially in Bayelsa. We’ve done all the local governments in Bayelsa, we’ve done 772 in the whole of the country. But with updates and the pretests done, we’re now set for the Trial Census. The Trial Census is like the final dress rehearsal before we go into the main census.

Who are those involved in the Trial Census?

We have over 700 Adhoc staff and our staff who are working. We have facilitators who are also doing their training in Brass but we took a break and we’ll be going back on the 7th of July. And from there we’ll have the full training. After the full training, we now move into the communities. At this point we’re going to be directly interacting with our people and that’s when the Trial Census proper will start. For the Trial Census we have a few components. We have the training which I said is already ongoing. After the training we’ll have what we call House Listing. After the House Listing, we’ll have the Trial Census proper, and after that, we’ll still have a mop-up to make sure we don’t leave any area because it’s going to be a complete enumeration of Brass Local Government Area.

Brass Local Government Area is one of six in the six geo-political zones that we’re working in. North Central where we have Nassarawa State, we’re working in Adamawa, we’re working in Katsina, we’re working in Ogun State, we’re working in Bayelsa and we’re also working in Anambra State. In each zone, we have picked one Local Government Area for complete enumeration. The other States are going to be using sample areas to test the census instruments. And after that, when we’re already done with that, then we know that we’re fully prepared for the full census. But we need to have a Trial Census done to finalize on our census instruments because without doing that we’ll not be 100 per cent sure of what we’re taking to the field at the real census. I’m believing that whatever challenges thrown at us from the Trial Census, we can make our corrections and then we’ll be able to move on to the main census.

On benefits derivable from the Trial Census

The major benefits we’re going to derive from the Trial Census is that we’ll be able to know exactly what kind of challenges we’re going to be getting and solving all those issues. But generally, it would also help our Enumerators because the Enumerators we have now…over 600 of them are new. They were recruited through our E-recruitment portal. And during the E-recruitment they were geofenced, I mean they could apply unless you were inside Brass Local Government. So we’re using the indigenes of the area mostly, so that there’ll be no language issues and they’ll be more comfortable in discussing with the people.

The advantages like I have said, is that people now know that a census is coming. In the whole states, this is part of our advocacy to also inform people that Mr. President and the Council of States have approved for us to conduct a census come 2023. But this is our first Trial Census. In Bayelsa State we’re using Brass, 100% Brass, meaning that we’re going to have to cover the entire Brass Local Government, and that means the people of Brass and other people who were able to go into Brass applied and were successful would now form a nucleus for us during the main census. Everything we have done now will be repeated when we come back for the main census. So at least, the awareness is created and minus test our own instruments, the major benefit is that we’ve had enough advocacy to inform people that we’ll be coming back but let us take this little bit to introduce ourselves as we’re really coming back for the real census.

On Role Of The Community and Stakeholders In Ensuring Success Of The Trial Census

The communities are our first line partners because when we go to a community, we live there, we stay with them for a period. So usually, we carry out advocacies, we discuss with the Chiefs, we discuss with the women leaders, the youth leaders and we get their buy-in before we really move into their areas.
Before we went into the field for the Trial Census we’ve had meetings with the Community Development Committees (CDC), the youths and every other stakeholders within Brass Local Government. The Brass people have been very accommodating, they’ve been very kind to us, we’ve been there a couple of times. We were there when we had our first EAD, but I think when we had the first EAD in Brass we were still half and half, we were not fully digital. But we came back for an update and they welcomed, and we did our updates. Now we’re back again in Brass for the Trial Census.

The stakeholders and the communities and the local government authorities, and especially the Governor of Bayelsa State, they’ve been very helpful and supportive to us, and they’re all looking towards us having a successful outing. Within this week we’re also going to go back to them to explain we’re coming back fully now, what we did initially was a training. We’re going to complete our training in the next few days, and then we go full hog into the Trial Census itself. So we’re still going back to introduce to them how our people will be appearing, so they know how our people will be kitted up for the field. And we hope and pray that they’ll continue to support us because they’ve been wonderful so far.

On how the NPC is prepared to ensure success of the Trial Census:

The NPC is very prepared. All our materials have already arrived because we’re also trying to see how the logistics movement would be, because Brass is a riverine area and you know how the hassles with riverine transportation and things like that, but we’ve received all our equipment and items that will be used for the Trial Census. We do not immediately envisage any problem, but I think one we had during the training was the rains. You know we’re in raining season now, so we had that challenge of Enumerators being in the rain. And now that they’re going for the real enumeration, we think that’ll be a challenge. But other than that, we’re just hoping and looking forward to whatever the Trial Census will throw up. Our Enumerators are ready, they’ve been trained, they’re going to go into the field from the 13th of this month to conduct the full Trial Census. And we’re looking forward to that because the main thing is to see what will be thrown up from the Trial Census that will enable us plan better towards the 2023 Census.
The Trial Census will last for about two weeks. We have 6 days for House Listing, and then another 5 days for the enumeration proper, another 3 days for the mop up. We’re supposed to have a validation for the Enumeration Areas for another 3 days, so give and take it would be a little over two weeks and then we’ll be out of the process.

On her parting shot to the people out there and to Bayelsans in general:

Well, to Bayelsans in general, this is NPC’s first digital census, we’ve never done 100% digital. The NPC has always used the most current technology for all the previous censuses. Even in 2006, they used the most current methodology for that period. So I want to reassure all Bayelsans that we’re fully prepared, the digital census will make it easier. We want to encourage everybody, especially those we’re doing the Trial Census with now in Brass, to support us further by listening to our Enumerators, answering their questions as put to them, they should be truthful and they should please cooperate with them generally, so at the end of the day we’ll all know that we had a successful outing. The census is coming! And one of our saying today in census is that “You Count, Be Counted”. So I’m appealing to Bayelsans to start preparing to be counted. And if we’re going to be counted, we should know that the NPC will have proper records, our census will be reliable and acceptable to everybody. The era of doing things behind the board are gone. The technology that we’re using now, we’re going to be going online, full time and every information will be transmitted to our servers directly from the field. There’s no area within town where they’re going to be collating information now. Everything we’re doing is on time and real time. So we hope and we believe that with the support of all Bayelsans, we’ll have a successful outing come 2023. But for now, for the people of Brass, I’ll encourage and appeal to all of us to continue to support the National Population Commission. And as we come to your different homes, just please cooperate and answer the questions from the questionnaires, and we’ll not take too much of your time, we promise you that. And I believe that at the end we’ll have cause to celebrate and we’ll all be good for it.

What’s Mrs. Gloria Izonfuo’s passion?

The people! I generally like to serve, I generally like to see results, I generally like success. On my own I like to see people succeed, and I like to see people happy and live comfortably together without any stress. So once I’m within such environment, I think I’m at my optimum.

We’ve been speaking with the Hon. Federal Commissioner representing Bayelsa State in the National Population Commission Mrs Gloria Izonfuo, mni, and we’ve gone through all the gamut of Trial Census, what you need to know, the role of the community, and critical stakeholders in ensuring the success of the Trial Census. What are you waiting for?
You count, Be Counted!

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