Management of the National Population Commission (NPC) has said Nigeria requires N207billion to conduct a successful digital population census next year if approved by President Muhammadu Buhari.
In an interview, the chairman of Census Committee and federal commissioner representing Rivers State in the NPC, Ipalibo Harry, he declared the readiness of the commission to conduct the first-ever digital population census in May next year.
Harry said the NPC had carried out census pretest exercises in the Federal capital Territory (FCT) and some states across the country to test run the digital process.
However, the committee chairman objected to the N178 billion budget that had been approved by the National Assembly, stating that it was a far cry from what would be needed for the exercise.
He also addressed the notion that while Nigerians might raise hackles on the issue of the proposed budget not being enough, it was important to note that the exercise would need manpower to execute and there was a need to study the census budget of previous years and in other climes.
The National Assembly had approved N178 billion for the proposed census in the 2022 national budget.
Harry said, “The estimated budget approved by the National Assembly is N178 billion and that is a far cry from what it ought to be, but we hope that a supplementary budget will come afterward, but I don’t have the idea of what the cost implications would be, you can take it from me that the total budget won’t be less than N207 billion.”
He continued, “They need to find out the budget allocated for the last census 16 years ago. We also need to compare the cost of a census in neighboring countries. I tell you the outcome will be worth more than the budget.
“It is worthy to note that Nigeria is a highly populous country at a projected 207 million and so the human resources that will be polled towards the success of this exercise would also be huge as this will involve more than 1,000 enumeration areas and this will help in extending our reach so we can know what might affect the next census. As it is now, not less than 1.5 million ad-hoc personnel will be involved in the exercise, part of that will be from the outcome of the second pretest.”.
He hinted that the commission had successfully conducted the enumeration area demarcation exercise which he described as the foundation of any census.
The NPC commissioner said, “We have made all necessary preparations for the upcoming census scheduled for May 2022. Fortunately, the enumeration area demarcation has been completed for the next census and this is the foundation of any census, it creates the framework for the survey. The pocket areas affected by insecurity are yet to be tidied up.
“There is a mop-up exercise going on in those directions. In this regard, we have carried out our first pretest. Training for the second pretest came up 25th November, 2021 while the fieldwork is by December. One week after the fieldwork, we will be done with our second pretest then we review the pretest activities with key players,” he said.
He further revealed that the commission was expected to provide a supplementary budget submission and also hoped for maximum support from some of its international development partners.
“Second, we have development partners that are always coming into partnership with us. The chief technical adviser is coming from the United State of America to see the progress report and advise us as we go forward. The United Nations Population Fund (UNFPA) is also on standby to see to what extent they can come in to give their support. Usually, not less than 30 per cent of our support is from our partners. Even though we don’t have much funds, we are positive that a lot of partners will support us,’’ Harry said.
Source: Leadership
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