Stephen Ukandu, Umuahia
The National Population Commission, NPC, has has appealed to Abia residents to avoid the mistakes that led to the low figures ascribed to the state during the 2006 population census.
Abia, according to the Federal Commissioner in charge of Abia State, Chief Johnny Nnwabuisi, recorded low figures due to the failure of the State Government then, to adequately sensitise the people about the importance of the exercise.
The NPC boss who stated this during a press conference Friday in Umuahia, appealed to the State Government, traditional rulers, Town Union leaders, religious leaders and other critical stakeholders to collaborate with the Commission in creating the needed awareness about the 2023 census to avoid the mistakes of the past.
He regretted that Abia later lost the legal battle for upward review of the 2.6 million figure allocated to it during the exercise, and urged residents to actively participate in the forthcoming exercise.
Nnwabuisi passionately appealed to residents not to contemplate boycotting the exercise as doing so will be self injurious.
He announced that a trial census had on July 13, commenced in six pilot states nationwide plus nine Local Government Areas of every state.
The nine Abia LGAs three of which were randomly drawn from each of the three senatorial zones include Bende, Isuikwuato and Ohafia (Abia North).
Others are Umuahia North, Isiala-Ngwa South and Osisioma (Abia Central); as well as Obingwa, Aba North and Ugwunagbo (Abia South).
He said that the objective of the trial census which which will be concluded on July 30, “is to test-run the equipment for the 2023 census and identify the likely challenges and fix them ahead of time.”
He disclosed that the census would be captured digitally with Personal Data Application (PDA).
Responding to an inquiry on whether some vital statistics like state of origin, ethnicity and religion would be captured in the forthcoming headcount, the NPC boss said that “the Commission had decided to highlight only those indices that unite us as a country not the ones that divide us.”
Adding his voice, the state Coordinator of the Trial Census exercise, Mr Adebayo Olaide, appealed to community leaders to cooperate with enumerators sent to their areas.
He expressed concern over the un-cooperative attitude of Bende and Aba North Councils, and appealed for a change.
In a remark the Deputy Chairman, Abia Council of Traditional Rulers Council, expressed the willingness of traditional rulers to ensure the success of the exercise in their various communities.
He appealed to the Commission to ensure the enumerators take into consideration that rural dwellers are predominantly farmers and should come when they would meet them at home.
Speaking also, the Secretary of the Abia State Census Committee, Chief Charles Amah, appealed to Abia residents to fully cooperate with the enumerators and ensure they are captured during the exercise considering the importance of census figures in revenue allocation and other benefits from Government.
The State Director of National Orientation Agency, NOA, Dr Mrs Ngozi Okechukwu, said the agency would collaborate with the Commission to ensure the success of both the trial census and the main exercise.
NPC had postponed the national census earlier scheduled for April 2022 to April 2023, citing preparation for the 2023 elections as reason for the shift.
