The National Population Commission has said in order to give Nigerians an accurate, reliable, acceptable and verifiable census, it was embarking on a fresh Enumeration Area Demarcation (EAD) with the deployment of the latest technology.
A Federal Commissioner representing Cross River State in the board of the NPC, Navy Captain Charles Ogwa, made this known in Calabar, Thursday, during the official flag-off of Phase II of the enumeration area demarcation exercise in Odukpani and Akamkpa local government areas.
He said “The Commission is leaving no stone untouched in order to ensure that the EAD for the next Census is conducted meticulously, professionally and scientifically. For this reason, the Commission is deploying latest technology such as the high-resolution satellite imagery based on the principle of Geographic Information System (GIS) which enables all buildings as well as their attribute data, using data acquisition software, to be captured.
“The Global Positioning Systems (GPS) is also used for geo-referencing along with Personal Data Assistant (PDA) which are handheld devices/tablets loaded with appropriate software for population estimation and data capture. The EAD functionaries are also being trained on a continuous basis in line with the deployed modern technology.”
Ogwa said there would be no political enumeration areas and therefore warmed stakeholders and the political class not to attempt to influence enumerators carrying out the exercise for whatever reason.
“Stakeholders should allow enumerators to do their job. They should refrain from undue interference in the EAD exercise. The field functionaries need to be allowed to carry out their duties professionally,” he submitted.
The Commissioner further disclosed that the enumeration area exercise in Odukpani and Akamkpa local government areas would take place between December 9, 2020, and January 20, 2021, saying that with the level of training enumerators had been undergoing, he was sure the enumeration exercise would be successful.
In his remarks, the Zonal Coordinator of National Bureau of Statistics, Ismaila Obuh, said the naming of enumeration areas should be by consensus, while political enumeration areas should be avoided.
Also speaking, the NPC Director in the State, Mr Billy Eteng, charged residents of the two local government areas to give enumerators all the cooperation they would need in the course of their duties, adding that the NPC was poised to give the country the population count that it would be proud of.