JUST IN: Nationwide census to hold after elections - NPC

The Chairman of the NPC, Nasir Kwarra, disclosed this to State House reporters shortly after meeting with President Muhammadu Buhari at the Presidential Villa, Abuja, on Friday, January 20, 2023.

“By March 29 to April 2, our staff will be in the field enumerating people,” he said.

Pulse reports that the important exercise will kick off two weeks after the conclusion of the presidential, governorship, national, and state assembly elections scheduled for February 25 and March 11.

Meanwhile, Kwarra stated that the technological tools to be deployed would be able to code buildings and landmass, detailing information such as location, landscapes among others to ensure credibility in the exercise.

He also assured that everyone would be counted, including non-Nigerians, so long as they are in the country at the time of the exercise.

The NPC Chairman said the deployment of high-end technology in the upcoming exercise will make it stand out from the previous ones that were marred by controversies.

Kwarra's words: “From March 29 to April 2, our staff will be in the field enumerating people… This census is going to be different from past censuses. The theory and practice is essentially the same, but we are using high-end technology to conduct this census and it is such that nobody can tamper with any figure. Nobody will be counted more than once.

“We are visiting households to do direct interface with the household, collect data and in the past, if you are doing an operational manually, it is very cumbersome, but this is being aided by technology and I believe it is going to be transparent and very fast and it is going to be verifiable because we are able to provide data up to local government, up to wards level. So, it is something that you can always verify.”

While stating the commission's preparedness for the exercise, Kwarra said the demarcation of areas had been completed.

He also disclosed that NPC had opened a dedicated portal to recruit ad-hoc staff for the conduct of the exercise, adding that those recruited will be deployed to work in their localities.

The commission boss expressed hopes that the current security challenges in some parts of the country will not be a hindrance to the smooth conduct of the exercise.