Ahead of the 2023 population and housing census, the National Population Commission (NPC) has called on Nigerians to remain at their places of residence to be counted.
The Executive Chairman of NPC, Nasir Isa-Kwarra, made the appeal on Monday in Lafia during the opening ceremony of the North-Central Second-Level Management Training Workshop.
No Need to Travel to Villages for Census
Isa-Kwarra explained that Nigerians do not need to travel to their states or villages of origin, as the census questionnaire would capture their areas of origin.
He emphasized that the upcoming census would be Nigeria’s first digital census, with data collection fully supported by electronic technologies.
Training Workshop for Census Officials
According to the NPC boss, the training aims to equip state directors, LGA management staff, and senior officials with the necessary skills for the successful conduct of the digital census.
“Given the adoption of electronic data collection, the workshop will expose staff to census methodology, questionnaire concepts, and census management,” Isa-Kwarra said.
He added that the first level of management training had earlier been held for commissioners and executive members of the commission, ahead of the trial census scheduled for June.
Stakeholders Back Digital Census
The Federal Commissioner for Nasarawa State, Silas Agara, praised both federal and state governments for their support in approving the 2023 census.
He also commended Governor Abdullahi Sule, traditional rulers, and stakeholders for their backing, assuring Nigerians that NPC would deliver a credible and reliable census.
Similarly, the Census Committee Chairman, Dr. Ipalibo MacDonald-Harry, stated that every stage of the census process—from mapping, e-recruitment, virtual training, to enumeration—was designed on a digital platform.
Nasarawa Governor Calls for Karu to Host Trial Census
Declaring the workshop open, Governor Abdullahi Sule expressed delight that Nasarawa was chosen to host the training for North-Central states.
He stressed the importance of the exercise, noting that the population of Karu Local Government Area alone exceeds the entire population of Nasarawa State as recorded in the 2006 census.
The governor urged the NPC to use Karu for the June trial census.
