*calls for continuous education of people on head count
By; MKPUMA ENYINNA, Abakaliki
As part of preparedness ahead of the forthcoming national census in Nigeria, the National Population Commission (NPC), Ebonyi State has said that the trial census organized in the state recorded a huge success as it was properly conducted and executed in nine local government areas of the state.
The NPC National Commissioner in charge of Ebonyi State, Hon. Darlington Okereke made this known in Abakaliki during the 2nd press briefing on the implementation of Trial Census of 2023 Population and Housing Census in 9 local government areas of Ebonyi State.
He therefore, emphasized the need for continuous education of the people on the importance of head count to economic planning and nation building.
According to Hon. Okereke, the activities for the trial census started with the training of functionaries, supervisors and enumerators nationwide on June 27, 2022, which lasted for a period of 12 days at Women Development Centre, Abakaliki, while the actual field work commenced on Wednesday July 13, 2022 with the arrival of the functionaries at the 45 Enumeration Areas (EAs),selected from nine local government areas of the state.
He also explained that a total of 90 enumerators and nine supervisors took part in the trial census, adding that the essence is to test the level of their preparedness ahead of the 2023 nationwide census.
“The essence of the trial census is to test the level of our preparedness in all areas of census operations, from planning to execution.It is a dress rehearsal of the entire census process such as the recruitment process, the questionnaires,payment system, logistics, our equipment and the level of compliance and involvement of stakeholders”, he said.
About the methodology used for the exercise, Hon.Okereke noted that the commission adopted Computer Assisted Personal Interview (CAPI), data collection method, questionnaires and several other forms embedded in the Personal Digital Assistant(PDA) only in selected Enumeration Areas.
He further added that poor accommodation for the functionaries, non provision of local guides among others are some of the challenges before them.
On her part, the Director of NPC in Ebonyi State, Mrs. Julia Mmaike commended the outstanding performance of the Federal Commissioner and his team in ensuring that the state trial census was excellent.
She also applauded the commitment of Governor David Umahi and other stakeholders in the state towards the success recorded.
