NPC To Hold Census March 29

The National Population Commission (NPC) has announced March 29 as date for the 2023 general census.

The national population and housing census for March 29 to April 1, the NPC chairman Nasir Kwarra, has said on Friday.

Kwara spoke with State House journalists after meeting with President Muhammadu Buhari at the Presidential Villa, Abuja, on Friday.

He said the technological tools to be deployed would be able to code building and landmass, detailing information such as location, landscapes among others.

Mr Kwarra said, “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.”

Kwarra said the demarcation of enumerations areas had been completed.

He said a portal had been opened by the commission to recruit ad-hoc staff for the conduct of the exercise, adding that people recruited will be deployed to work in their localities.

The NPC chairman, while speaking on the security situation in parts of the country, expressed hope that the exercise could be conducted smoothly in the areas affected.