The National Population Commission, NPC, office in the Federal Capital Territory, FCT, has inaugurated a 14-man committee to sensitize the public ahead of the 2023 national population and housing census.
FCT Minister, Mallam Muhammed Bello, who inaugurated the committee on Wednesday in Abuja, said the move will help residents to avail themselves to be counted in FCT.
Represented by the Permanent Secretary, FCT Administration, Olusade Adeshola, Bello said “We must know how many we are so that we can plan appropriately.”
The minister added that governments of countries periodically and on a continuous basis, conduct a census of its people to know how many they are and what is the distribution of its people.
“This helps us to determine how many hospitals we need to build? How many schools do we need to provide? Whatever do we put in to build the capacity of people? and even to create jobs and promote food and security.
“The slogan of the National Population Commission for the Census, is appropriate, it says ‘You Count, be counted.’ For us in FCT it will help us to plan for agriculture, for vaccination, health, for schools that we construct, for streetlights that will provide, for development that we embark on, for the employment generation that we need to plan for as we approach the 2023 population activity,” he said.
Speaking on the terms of reference to the team, the minister said “This committee as composed, will address the publicity aspect of the assignment of the National Population Commission in FCT. This is important to help us break barriers and to make our people see the need to come out and make themselves available for counting.
“In the just concluded election in FCT, while our city had over one, over 1.9 million registered voters, the number of people that came out of vote was far less than that. Why so?”
Also speaking, the Federal Commissioner of NPC in FCT, Joseph Shazin Kwali, who doubles as Chairman of Committee said the FCT office will deploy full digital technology in the conduct of the census.
Kwali said the office will leave no stone unturned in ensuring that the results of the census are acceptable to all residents of FCT and the quality of the data to be generated meets international best standards.
According to him, the overarching vision of the 2023 census is to produce not only accurate, reliable and acceptable census data but also an inclusive and user-friendly data that will be used by all segments of the society for development planning and critical programme interventions.
“Given this scenario, information, they say “rules the world” as such, targeted advocacy and sustained publicity is no doubt imperative to the successful conduct of the Census exercise. This becomes even more crucial in view of the fact that the census is taking place immediately after the conduct of the 2023 General elections.
“Therefore, the mobilization of critical stakeholders to support and take ownership of the process to achieve the desired outcome is imperative and it hinges absolutely on our ability to speak to the people in the language that will galvanize and mobilize them to participate in the 2023 census.
“To this end, the FCT Office will be relying on your expertise and structures to drive the message into every home and household to drum up support and participation in the 2023 Population and Housing Census,” he said.
Responding on behalf of the Committee, Onah of Abaji, Alh.Dr Adamu Baba Yunusa, represented by
Madakin Matasa Abuja, Alhaji, Yahuza, expressed the readiness of the committee to carry out the assignment for the growth and development of the nation.