Population Census: How Feasible Is 2016? Less than two years to the proposed population census, the National Population Commission (NPC) is yet to receive a proclamation from President Goodluck Jonathan to enable the commission commence its activities for the 2016 census. Patience Ivie Ihejirika analyses some of the issues The last National Population and Housing Census were conducted by the national population commission in 2006. The exercise raised national and international expectations and it was thought that the conduct of regular intervals would be maintained in Nigeria. However, while 2016 is just around the corner, it is still uncertain whether the next census would actually hold, giving the fact that the commission is still waiting for a proclamation from the president. Request for proclamation The leadership of the National Population Commission recently had a closed door meeting with President Goodluck Jonathan at the Aso Villa in relation to the commission’s anticipated presidential proclamation concerning the proposed population census in 2016. The NPC chairman, Chief Eze Duruiheoma, while briefing statehouse correspondents after the meeting revealed that the team could not secure the proclamation at the meeting. According to him, although there ought to be a general census in 2016 since the last one was conducted in 2006; however, preparations for the exercise have not started since there is no presidential proclamation on the matter. “The last census was in 2006. So in 2016, there ought to be another exercise. We have come to tell Mr President about that because we cannot commence until he says go ahead and the go-ahead is by way of proclamation,” Chief Duruiheoma said. Blaming the country ‘s problem on poor data management, Duruiheoma said, “If you look at the problems confronting us as a nation today, all of them were derived from a simple fact that we lack data and because we lack data, we don’t plan. So that is what I think we should be looking at.” The need for population census in 2016 NPC chairman has maintained that periodicity is one of the basic attribute of a good census. According to him, censuses are conducted over a period of five or 10 years. The periodicity of the census makes the data comparable over a period of time, adding that the demographic profile of any nation is not static, rather expected to change considerably over a period. “Conducting census at regular intervals makes it possible for the government and planners to have a larger picture of development process and plan accordingly. Comparability of census data are better done when the census are conducted at regular intervals of either five or ten years rather than at regular period of government convenience,” he explained. Duruiheoma noted that accurate and reliable demography data is an indispensable requirement for people centered development, while indicating that the nation has conducted several censuses and other demographic survey in the past for its development planning. He revealed that upon inauguration of the present commission, the president directed it to achieve 100 per cent completeness of the vital registration project by 2015, adding that in pursuit of the directive, the commission has embarked upon an accelerated registration of births and deaths in every part of the country through the support of a wide range of stakeholders and development partner. “More registration centres have been planned while more registrars are being recruited in order to ensure that all births and deaths are registered. “The vision of the commission is a vital registration system that will automatically update the population data within the inter-census period through regular and continuous capture of the changes in the population profile through births and deaths,” he said. According to him, in African, not less than 34 countries have participated uninterruptedly in the last three rounds of global censuses from 1990 to 2014. He enlisted the countries as Algeria, Benin, Botswana, Burkina Faso, Cape Verde, Comoros, Congo, Egypt and Equatorial Guinea. Other countries include Gabon, Gambia, Ghana, Kenya, Lesotho, Malawi, Mali, Mauritania, Mauritius, Morocco, Mozambique, Namibia, Niger, Rwanda, Sao Tome’and Principle, Senegal, and Zimbabwe among others. Noting another imperative why it is necessary for the country to hold its next census in 2016, Duruiheoma said after the result of the 2006 population and housing census was released, some state government and local government councils disputed the result as it affected them on various ground. Reacting to the current security challenges in country which is perceived as the reason why the president is delaying in giving a go ahead to commence activities for the exercise, Chief Duruiheoma revealed that some of the countries that have conducted census regularly have also experienced internal crisis like it is currently experienced in Nigeria. He said virtually all the countries have lesser population and are less endowed with resources like Nigeria. According to him, the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) should be working towards the general election in 2015 amidst the security challenges. So security should not be a yardstick for not conducting census in 2016. Meanwhile, President Goodluck Jonathan had stressed the need for Nigeria to know its population figures in order to plan well while swearing-in Chief Eze Duruiheoma as the chairman of NPC in February, 2014. President Jonathan described the NPC as a very crucial agency, saying, “When we have a country that which population is growing than the way the economy is growing, then we must know our population figures so that government at federal, state and local levels will be able to plan. ‘’You cannot plan based on what you don’t know but if you know, you can plan for it.’’ It is worthy of note that despite the delay, Nigerians are anxiously waiting to get accurate population census figures by 2016.
Posted on: Thu, 31 Jul 2014 13:31:06 +0000
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