By Hassan John
As part of efforts to ensure that the 2023 Census is hitch-free, the United Nation Population Fund (UNFPA) and the Federal Government through Federal Ministry of Finance and the National Population Commission (NPC), have concluded plans to host what they christened a donor conference.
The conference is targeted at bringing together key stakeholders including Development Partners, organised private sector; all Chief Executive Officers and Managing Directors of Commercial Banks, Telecoms, and Oil & Gas Industry etc.).
The Donor Conference, according to a statement signed by the Minister of State for Budget and National Planning, Prince Clem Ikanade Agba, is to mobilise funding support for the census.
The conference, he disclosed will take place on Monday, March 6, 2023, at the Congress Hall, Transcorp Hilton Hotel, Abuja.
Despite skepticism in some quarters as to whether the census will hold or not, the statement insisted that “in line with Presidential directive, the National Population Commission will conduct the 2023 Population and Housing Census this Year.”
The Minister revealed that in order to ensure the census is successful, the NPC has already demarcated the 774 local government areas in the country in readiness for the exercise
Part of the Minister’s statement read: “As part of preparations for the successful conduct of the Census, the National Population Commission has successfully demarcated the 774 Local Government Areas in the country in readiness for the exercise.
“The Enumeration Area Demarcation (EAD) is the process of delineating the entire land area of the country into small (mutually exclusive) geographical and demographic units called Enumeration Areas (EAs).
“The Commission has concluded the recruitment of ad-hoc staff that will function as trainers, Specialized Work Force, Data Quality Managers and Data Quality Assistants and enumerators.
“Some of the functionaries have undergone training in preparation for the census exercise.
“The Commission has also taken delivery of the first batch of the Personal Digital Assist (PDA) that will be used for data capturing.
“Consequently, the Federal Ministry of Finance, Budget and National Planning in collaboration with the NPC and the UNFPA is organzing a Donors Conference for the 2023 Population and Housing Census
“The objective of the high-level engagement which will be Chaired by the Honourable Minister of Budget and National Planning, Hajiya Zainab Shamsiya Ahmed is to mobilize funding support for the exercise.”
