2023 census ‘ll be devoid of political interference -Commissioner

The National Population Commission (NPC) has assured that the 2023 National Housing and Demographic digital census will be devoid of political interference.

The NPC Plateau Federal Commissioner, Mrs Cecilia Dapoet, said this when she interacted with media practitioners on Friday in Jos.

“We have also put some measures in the place to curtail incidence of political interference with the census process,” she said.

She said that the census earlier billed for between May 3 and May 7, was postponed due to the government’s transition programme and the post-election mood of the country.

She faulted claim that the census was postponed due to lack of funds.

“The real reason is not money but government’s transition programme and post-election mood in the country.

“We all saw the cloud of uncertainty that hung above the nation after the elections and were careful not to fall into some pitfalls and plunge the country into more trouble.

“We cannot take things for granted and decided to postpone the exercise. I assure you it was done in the national interest,” he said.

The commissioner said that the commission had already procured hand devices which would be used for data capturing, adding that they were safely stored at the Central Bank in Jos.

She added that the software application had already being set up for the census before it was postponed.

She said that the postponement would also provide the opportunity for the involvement of the new administration in the exercise.

“We are using the opportunity offered by this postponement to re-assess our census Work-plan.

“Also to inject any input that would add value to the strategies for implementing the methodology for optimal success,” she said.

Dapoet restated the readiness of the commission for conduct of the census, saying that it had already carried out the Enumeration Area Demarcation, census pretests, trial census, recruitment and trainings.

She assured that the census would be better than the previous ones which were marred by undercounting, multiple counting and inaccurate enumeration.

She said that the situation had led to the lack of trust in the census data and its difficulty to use for planning and development purposes.

She expressed confidence that the 2023 census would provide quality data for proper planning and development in Nigeria.