As the Chairman of the National Population Commission, NPC calls for a meeting of stakeholders to address population issues, Our Correspondent, Friday Obande, in this write-up, captures the necessary steps being taken by the Commission to ensure that the country is not kept in the dark concerning its population data.
What is the current population of the country? Are we still 200 million in population, or have we outgrown this? At what rate is Nigeria’s population increasing; is it arithmetically or geometrically? These questions may appear not so important to an average Nigerian, but information about the country’s population is critical for decision making such as development road-map, planning, strategy as well as attendance to the salient needs of the country.
Since 2006, Nigeria’s population has been un-ascertained, which hampers so much as the government and other development partners need information about the number of people living in Nigeria and their distributions across the country to make appropriate decisions when trying to provide amenities in the country.
The commission has, within the years, embarked on several reforms in order to pave the way for a hitch-free National Census through innovations. The first step taken was creating the Enumeration Area Demarcation, EAD, which is the process of delineating the entire land area of the country into small geographical and demographic units called Enumeration Areas, well guided by the NPC.
Furthermore, the commission has introduced the use of High resolution satellite imageries through the use of ‘Global Positioning System’, GPS, for geo-referencing and also the use of ‘Geographic Information System’, GIS, for data management, including ‘Personal Data Assistants’ as hand-held devices/tablets that include computer software for population estimation, meant for data capturing during the period of the exercise.
Recall that in 2023, Nigerian Pilot reported that Local Government Areas across the country have been successfully demarcated, and that there were initial hitches in two out of the 744 local government areas in the country, precisely Birnin Gwari LGA in Kaduna State and Abadam in Borno State, where the demarcation exercise couldn’t take place at some quota due to security issues affecting those areas. However, the commission has completed its job.
The Chairman of the NPC, Hon. Isa Kwarra, stated that “Major cost elements in the EAD project include the acquisition of high-resolution satellite imageries of entire land space of Nigeria and equipment, deployment of logistics across the country as well as training and deployment of tens of thousands of ad-hoc workers for several months to carry out the field operations. All of these were paid for, and heavily too.”
He continued by saying that the commission has carried out an elaborate consultative process in designing a census questionnaire that responded to the country’s data needs for sustainable development, while a series of workshops involving the academia, professional bodies, Civil Society Organizations and stakeholders were organized at the national and state levels between 2015 and 2017.
Other grey areas he mentioned were the phases of the census pre-test which took place between May 31, 2021 and June 13, 2021 in the 36 states of the Federation and the Federal Capital Territory while the second re-test with larger coverage and broader objectives was conducted from November 24th to December 10th, 2021 also in the 36 states of the Federation and the FCT, including the training of 13,000 personnel, who were paid allowances during the period in 2022, and that the test runs cost huge amounts of money in terms of training, deployment of personnel, and procurement of equipment and software.
While further educating the public on the digital operation of the census, Kwarra said the commission has procured hardware equipment and developed appropriate software, corresponding technological structure and facilities for the 2023 Census which cost a fortune, in addition to the procurement of computers, laptops, desktops, printers and solar power systems for the census.
“The software procured for the census include; Census pads and Sentry for data collection, Azure Cloud Infrastructure for managing data storage, security and processing and Environmental Systems Research Institute, ESRI, Geospatial data for integration, analysis and utilization; also with Special Achievement in GIS, SAG, an award of recognition for its work at the 2023 Census EAD, the Commission 2022 Users Conference of ESRI held at California, United States,” according to Kwarra.
Recently in another development, the NPC officially signed a partnership compact on “Decentralization and Localization of Birth Registration and Legal Identity” with the Association of Local Governments of Nigeria, ALGON.
Again, Hon. Kwarra has just reiterated the urgency of the need to convene a meeting of the National Council on Population Management, NCPM, with the president, so as to tackle pressing population management and development issues across Nigeria.
Kwarra made the call during a courtesy visit to Senior Special Assistant to the President on Sustainable Development Goals, SDGs, Princess Adejoke Orelope-Adefulire, at her office in Abuja.
Professor Oladapo Ladipo, President Emeritus and Co-founder of the Association for Reproductive and Family Health, ARFH, Dr. Ejike Oji, Chairman of the Association for the Advancement of Family Planning, AAFP, Dr. Ejike Oji, Ms. Margaret Edison, former NPC Director of the Population Management and Development Department, formed part of the delegation.
The NPC boss hammered on the alarming statistics affecting the nation’s rapid high maternal mortality rates, as he went on to mention that a significant number of out-of-school children, escalating unemployment, and increasing insecurity, call for the National Council on Population Management, NCPM meeting to address.
In his further analogy, the NPC chairman expressed concern that the NCPM has not convened since its establishment in 2022 under former President Muhammadu Buhari.
“Given these critical challenges, it is imperative that we leverage current census data for evidence-based planning and policymaking,” Hon. Kwarra said.
Kwarra still maintained that President Tinubu was committed to conducting an upcoming census, which will be biometric-based to ensure accurate and reliable data and revealed that the Presidential Committee on the upcoming Census would soon submit its report to the President.
He therefore urged the SSA to advocate for the convening of the NCPM meeting, emphasizing her influential role as a key stakeholder and member of NCPM.
The NCPM, chaired by Nigeria’s President, includes a diverse range of high-ranking officials, making it the highest policy making body for the implementation of the National Policy on Population for Sustainable Development.
Its discussions are crucial for shaping effective policies that impact millions of Nigerians.
While responding, the presidential aide, Orelope-Adefulire underscored the significance of accurate census data for national planning and the achievement of SDGs.
“Without reliable data, we cannot plan effectively or achieve meaningful development’ she stated.
Recalling her involvement in the 2006 Census and noting the detrimental effects of prolonged delay in conducting other censuses, she pledged her support to ensure that Mr. President convenes the NCPM meeting to facilitate robust discussion aimed at formulating effective policies to tackle the population and development issues in Nigeria.
On his part, the ARFH President, Prof. Oladapo Ladipo, emphasized the need for Nigeria to moderate her population growth in order to emulate the successful development of the Asian tigers.
“Nigeria may not achieve the Sustainable Development Goals, the same way it failed to meet MDGs”. He stated that the NCPM meeting was crucial to discuss population issues and urgent need for accurate census data.
Also, Dr. Ejike Oji, Chairman of the Association for Advancement of Family Planning, AAFP, highlighted Nigeria’s high growing youth population, emigration rates, and rising insecurity as indicators of a looming population crisis movements popularly known as the “japa” syndrome in current Nigerian lexicon.
He said, “We need a robust conversation through the NCPM to address these issues”.
As Nigeria grapples with these critical challenges, the call for an NCPM meeting underscores the urgent need for concerted action to manage population dynamics effectively and secure a sustainable future for the nation.
Recall that Nigerian Pilot made a glossary of the commission’s readiness towards the forthcoming but impending “National Population Census which had been postponed thrice since 2022.
