The Federal Commissioner representing Edo State at the National Population Commission(NPC), Dr. Tony Aiyejina, has allayed fears that the rescheduled 2023 census exercise may follow the path of what was obtainable in the past exercises which were riddled with controversies.
He asserted that of utmost importance is the fact that this time around human interference in the collation of the information gathered in the process of enumeration would be brought to the barest minimum courtesy of the use of digital system in place of paperwork that was used hitherto.
He informed reporters at the Edo State Secretariat of the Nigeria Union of Journalists (NUJ) in Benin City while on a visit that officials of the NPC are fired to do a credible job as “conducting census in Nigeria is very demanding and if you’re not lucky the entire reputation you have built over the years may just go down.
“That’s why some of us are very careful and prayerful. If you have to hold a public office you must do it with maximum sense of responsibility and fear of God. There are lots of hazards in holding public office in Nigeria.”
According to him, “since 2006 Nigeria has not had a census with this long period of interregnum. Nigeria regrettably has been relying on projections which is not good for us and the future generation. You need census as a foundation for the assessment of people in public office.”
Going further, he stressed: “Previous census held in Nigeria were riddled with controversies because of human interference in the process.”
Dr. Aiyejina stated that the officials of the NPC have resolved “to do everything possible to bring out a result that would be acceptable to Nigeria and that can stand international standard.”
He disclosed that the commission has also resolved not to use religion and ethnic classification as part of the enumeration tools.
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