The National Population Commission, NPC, has unveiled a portal for the recruitment of ad-hoc staff for the 2023 census.
The census nanager, Inuwa Jalingo, said the commission is targeting about 25 million applications to get the job done, stating that the exercise will be transparent.
Jalingo said the adoption of e-recruitment approach is to ensure widespread applications from all over the localities in the country, minimize bias and ascertain that all qualified Nigerians are given equal opportunity to apply and be recruited and ensure that no one is left behind.
“The Commission adopts e-Recruitment portal to recruit ad-hoc staff for the 2023 Population and Housing Census. This portal has been tested during Pretest and Trial Census and has been greatly improved to serve different categories of ad-hoc staff,” he said.
He disclosed that the categories of staff to be recruited were, facilitators, training centre administrators, monitoring and evaluation officers, data quality managers, data quality assistants, supervisors, enumerators and special workforce.
According to him, the basic requirements for application were, National Identification Number Valid and Functional Gmail Account, Valid and Functional Phone Number, Valid and Functional /Operational Commercial Bank Account (No student/NYSC Account) and Valid Educational Qualifications.
He added that applicants must also provide referees as well as have access to and knowledge on the use of computers, tablets and smartphones is an added advantage.
On his part, chairman of the commission, Nasir Isa-Kwarra, said the bulk of personnel for the 2023 census will be drawn from the communities where they are resident.
“This will remove the huge logistics of moving personnel across the country. Consequently, every community will have the opportunity of contributing to the census workforce thereby ensuring that the people are adequately counted,” he stated.
Isa-Kwarra emphasised that the recruitment process will reflect greatly on the quality of data to be collected and ultimately the success of the 2023 census.
“To us in the Commission, the quality of staff that will perform the census activities are very important. Therefore, having good knowledge of the content of the census document, the technique and the organization of the census process is key to the success of the 2023 Population and Housing Census.
“While a good recruitment exercise will not by itself necessarily guarantee a successful census, a badly conducted recruitment process will inevitably lead to problems and increase the risk of an unsuccessful census.
“The launching of the online E-recruitment portal for the 2023 census at the headquarters marks the beginning of the online recruitment process whereby Nigerians from all demography and gender can hook on to the website that will be provided by the Commission to fill the online form and get themselves registered to be recruited,” he said.