2023 census will be credible—NPC

The National Population Commission (NPC) on Friday assured that it would not leave stone unturned in its bid to conduct a credible national census in 2023.

Alhaji Nasir Kwarra, Executive Chairman, NPC, said this in Abuja while inaugurating census dashboard and mobile device management location.

The dashboard is a monitoring instrument to enhance the quality of data being collected during the census across the country.

It has the capacity to display real-time performance of census data.

Kwarra, represented by Mrs Gloria Izonfuo, Federal Commissioner, Bayelsa said that the dashboard launch was a demonstration of the commission’s preparedness to conduct a digital and reliable census.

“As part of our collective resolve in the commission to conduct a fully digitalised census in Nigeria, the commission is leaving no stone unturned to achieve this set objective.

“It is in furtherance of this that we are today witnessing the official launch of the Census Dashboard and Mobile Device Management System,” he said.

According to him, NPC, National Bureau of Statistics, and external users could use the data from the dashboard to identify and resolve potential performance problems before they occur during household and population enumeration process.

Kwarra described the dashboard as an information management tool for monitoring, analysing and producing a visual display of the selected Key Performance Indicators (KPIs).

“The developed census dashboard utilises CSPro data collected from enumeration area/hamlet.

“It pulls data stored in CSPro (.csdb) format and stores it into MySQL database for easy processing and visualisation”, he said.

The executive chairman commended United Nations Population Fund (UNFPA), and United Nations Economic Commission for Africa (UNECA), for their tremendous support to the commission.

Also, Ms Ulla Mueller, Country Representative, UNFPA, reiterated the commitment of the United Nations (UN), in supporting the commission to deliver on its madates.

She said that the dashboard was an assurance of quality to Nigerians by the commission for a verifiable and accurate data-based census.

Similarly, Dr Inuwa Jalingo, Census Manager, NPC, affirmed the success of the commission in demarcation of over 80 per cent of Nigeria’s demography.

Jalingo said that every system required for the success of the 2023 census had been put in place.