Census 2018: FG Releases N775m To Population Commission
Fifteen years after the last headcount, Nigeria gears up for another round of population counting by the National Population Commission (NPC).
Efforts are already ongoing to make the census, which is slated for next year, as hitch-free and encompassing as possible.
The new census would include options for religion and ethnic group. This, according to an NPC official, is to make sure that “whatever product we produce after this census, would be accepted by the majority of Nigerians.”
On Thursday, the federal government released, to the NPC, over N775 million for the carrying out of Enumeration Area Demarcation (EAD) exercise.
EAD is a process that involves the demarcation of a country into manageable units in order to ease coverage during census counting.
The exercise is expected to kick off on February 20 and end on March 10.
Addressing reporters in Abuja, the Chairman of the NPC, Chief Eze Duruiheoma (SAN), said the commission would deploy sophisticated technology to carry out the exercise.
He said: “It is our expectation that what will be required for future censuses will be updating. Products from the EAD exercise can also be used by NIPOST to generate zip codes for the country.
“It is in this regard that the commission is deploying sophisticated technology in carrying out the EAD. The methodology for the census is designed to achieve full Geographic Information System(GIS) compliance.
According toDuruiheoma, high-resolution satellite imagery will be employed in order to avoid un-demarcated areas and area duplication.
“The methodology being adopted will not allow for the creation of imaginary EAs. Any attempt to include non-existent households and buildings in the EAs will be detected through satellite imagery.
“Arrangements for the uninterrupted implementation of the EAD exercise in the remaining LGAs have been concluded. A 50-person demarcation team has been recruited in all the states and the FCT and will be trained from February 13 to 19, 2017 at state level.”
