TheCable

The National Population Commission (NPC) says the upcoming census is not ethnic or politically motivated.

Speaking during a capacity-building workshop for journalists in Abeokuta on Thursday, Seyi Aderinokun, NPC federal commissioner in Ogun, said the census is only intended to generate data for economic development.

Aderinokun said the exercise would not be done by proxy as only persons who are physically present would be counted.

She said the census would be digital, as the commission had deployed advanced technology to code building and land mass, detailing information such as location, landscapes, and others.

“We are not a political organisation. We have the responsibility to conduct a census; it is research that is meant to generate data for economic planning. We are not ethnic or politically related or motivated,” Aderinokun said.

“The census result will be verifiable and it will be digital; we are deploying technological innovation.”

Folami Muka, deputy director of the census department, said previous censuses in the country had been marred by different complaints because people believed the exercises were politically motivated.

He said the commission had made it imperative to have a people-oriented exercise devoid of political inclinations.

“Getting the people involved to participate and own it, is paramount to its overall success,” Muka said.

“However, in Nigeria, the conduct of population censuses over the years has been fraught with many challenges due to the perception of many people as to what a population census is or is not.

“The outcome of a population census in terms of size has always thrown up heated exchanges between the various groups within the polity thereby adversely affecting the growth and development process of the country because the use of such data for planning for national development is always underplayed.”

Funmi Wakama, NTA general manager in Ogun, encouraged the media to partner with the NPC so the outcome will be acceptable.

The federal government is yet to announce the actual date that the population and housing census will take place.

The exercise was earlier scheduled for March 29 but was shifted to May because of the governorship and state assembly elections that will hold on March 18.