The National Population Commission (NPC) said it has procured and distributed 760,000 tablets and accessories to the 36 states of the federation as part of preparations for the country’s Population and Housing Census.
The Chairman of the Commission, Mr Isa Kwarra, disclosed this on Wednesday during the inauguration of a 25-member National Census Security and Logistic Committee by the National Security Adviser, Nuhu Ribadu.
Citing some milestones the commission had reached preparatory to the exercise, Kwarra said the NPC had also concluded the enumeration area demarcation of the 774 LGAs and the first and second pretest of census instruments.
However, the government has yet to fix a date for the exercise, which was initially scheduled for May last year but postponed by the immediate past government of Muhammadu Buhari.
The committee inaugurated by the NSA has its members drawn from the military, paramilitary, police force, relevant ministries, unions and the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN).
While inaugurating the committee in Abuja late Wednesday evening, Ribadu stressed the need for accurate and reliable demographic data for policy formulation and planning, and sustainable development.
“It is in the light of this and the desire to bequeath an enduring legacy of evidence-based planning for sustainable development that the conduct of the Population and Housing Census is of topmost priority to the administration of President Bola Tinubu.
“The setting up of this committee and its inauguration at this point in time is therefore a necessary step toward ensuring peaceful and smooth conduct of the census,” he said.
Ribadu said that the scope of the census is enormous, adding that “safeguarding the personnel and materials, as well as smooth channelling of same is imperative to the overall success of the exercise.”
He explained that the committee must be conscious of several risk factors that might affect the successful conduct of the census.
“The planning and conduct of a gigantic programme such as the census will no doubt come with its challenges in terms of security and logistics arrangement.
“Potential areas of threats to the census include physical attacks on National Population Commission (NPC) staff and facilities, attacks on security personnel on census duty, kidnapping, inter/intra communal violence disrupting preparatory and main census work,” he said.
Others, according to him, are attacks targeting NPC databases and ICT architecture, intimidation of members of the public to dissuade them from participating in the process and snatching and destruction of census materials.
He added that the issue of insecurity arising from banditry, kidnapping, armed conflicts, terrorism, insurgency and other violent crimes also pose major challenges to the census.
He, however, said that though the task before the committee is huge, the Federal Government had put in serious efforts to ensure the safety of Nigerians.
“It is expected that with coordinated synergy by the committee, safe movement of personnel and materials before, during and after the census will be guaranteed. This is because we have the confidence that with the calibre of members of this committee, this national assignment will be carried out successfully,” he said.
He also disclosed that the committee would be replicated in the 36 states and the Federal Capital Territory and in the 774 local government areas of the country.
In April 2023, former President Muhammadu Buhari approved the postponement of the population census.
