The National Population Commission has announced that there will be no public holiday during the upcoming census, which is scheduled to take place between May 3 and 7, 2023.
The commission also emphasized that everyone living in the nation, including visitors, would be counted and urged people to be accessible as the exercise would be conducted digitally.
The NPC spokesperson, Isiaka Yahaya, said in an interview on Friday that there wouldn’t be a public holiday because people can move around more freely on those days.
However, he added that based on previous experiences, there might be restrictions on movement. But I can’t confirm that right now. The government will issue a categorical statement regarding that.
He also said, “As long as foreigners are present in Nigeria, they will be counted. The entire population of Nigeria’s land area will be counted. According to the dictionary, a census is a count of every person. It didn’t say only citizens. As a result, the entire population of the nation at the time of the census will be counted”.
Isiaka went further to say ” “There will be a section where you can indicate whether you are a foreigner or not and where you are from. It is not separate because it will be included in the data collection.”
When asked to clarify whether those who choose not to participate in the exercise would face consequences, he responded, “There is a rumor that those who choose not to be counted will face consequences. All I know is that we have urged every Nigerian to be available for the exercise because it will benefit the country. Although we don’t want to emphasize it, there are offenses that we cannot lock up because we lack the necessary resources.”
Pam Dame, the NPC Director in Plateau State, has pledged that the exercise will be trustworthy and credible in the meantime.
Speaking on behalf of the commission, Dame reaffirmed the significance of the exercise for planning and national development while visiting the Plateau Chapter of the Nigeria Union of Journalists in Jos on Friday. He also said that the commission would use technology to make sure that there were few problems with the exercise.
He noted, “The upcoming census will be a bit unique because we have made arrangements for improvement over the previous ones. We are therefore appealing to Nigerians to cooperate with the personnel who would conduct the exercise. In order to reduce the possibility of manipulation and make technology credible, reliable, and acceptable to Nigerians, we will use it.
“It will be very difficult for anyone to manipulate this census because we will deploy everything required to make it credible and acceptable.”
Paul Jatau, the state chairman of the NUJ, gave the commission the responsibility of providing the commission’s officials with the necessary training in order to prevent problems during the general elections.
