The National Population Commission (NPC) has said it had put up measures to guard against all forms of malpractices ahead of the forthcoming population and housing census.
The commission also stressed that citizens living away from their states of origin do not need to travel to home for the purpose of the exercise.
It said people would be enumerated at their places of residence.
The spokesperson for the commission, Isiaka Yahaya, said this in an interview with our correspondent on Monday.
He said,”People should stay where they are, to be counted. They are not to move to their states of origin. It is totally against the essence of the census. You have to be counted where you reside because that’s where you enjoy the social facilities like education and health, among others.
“Apart from this, when the time comes for people to be provided with infrastructure and other things you will not allow the planners to have accurate figures. People are not to move.”
On measures to check malpractices, the NPC spokesman added: “This is a de facto census. We are asking practical questions about those who are living, not those who are yet to be born. We have not trained our enumerator to count people who are not yet born. We have a system in place to guard against all the malpractices that we have envisaged.
“Also, people can only be counted in their houses. This is to discourage people from moving from one place to another after being counted. You can only be counted in one place. There’s nothing to lie about. When we get to your house, the enumerators would see whatever you say you have and we are not asking for the owner of the house, why will anybody lie?”
Yahaya said the commission had not finished the recruitment process for enumerators.
Meanwhile, the 2023 National Population and Housing Census will commence on May 3, the Federal Government has confirmed.
Dr Garba Abari, a member of the Publicity and Advocacy Committee on the 2023 National Population and Housing Census, confirmed this on Sunday in Abuja when he appeared on the News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) Forum.
He said that the three-day exercise would commence on May 3 and end on May 5 across the country.
Abari, who is the Director-General, National Orientation Agency (NOA), explained that the census exercise would capture every person, household and structure for national planning and project execution purposes.
According to him, the change in the date was due to the postponement of the 2023 gubernatorial and state houses of assembly elections by the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC).
“That change by INEC made it mandatory for us to also adjust the date for the conduct of the exercise,” he said.
He described the census and the 2023 elections as major national events with significant importance which had earlier been planned to hold not too far away from each other.
“The census had to be put forward from the initial date of March 29 to April 2nd, now to May 3rd to 5th.
“There are two things that informed the shift in date. First, in the course of our planning by the National Population Commission, it was so factored that INEC will also tinker with its own electoral timetable.
“The gubernatorial election, as you are aware, had to be shifted by one week. This had a telling effect on the date of commencement of the census.
“Just like election, the Census is also a very long process, from the training, the sub-trainings, retraining leading up till the very day of the actual house listing and numbering.
“These will then be followed by the actual capture of the population.”
On the level of preparedness, the NOA boss assured the nation that the National Population Commission was ready to embark on the exercise.
Also, NPC, has debunked insinuations that the 2023 Population and Housing Census would canvass questions on the religious affiliations of respondents.
The clarification was made following a viral audio message circulating on WhatsApp, alleging that the religious affiliations of respondents will be discussed in the 2023 Population and Housing Census.
The viral message alleged that the question bordering on religion is intended to suppress the numbers of a set of believers in the process.
But in a swift clarification in a statement by the Director of Public Affairs, Isiaka Yahaya, on Wednesday, he emphasized that the Commission had excluded such items on its questionnaire to save the census data from needless controversies and attention.
It partly read,” To avoid doubt, National Population Commission wishes to state unequivocally that the 2023 Population Census will not discuss questions on religious affiliations of respondents”.
The Population and Housing Census is an important economic tool for development, usually a starting point for any government desirous of genuine growth.
