TODAY’S VIEWPOINT LOOKS AT URGENCY FOR A CREDIBLE DIGITAL CENSUS IN NIGERIA
Tom palmer, an author, once described government as a mechanism for distributing largesse, with census a veritable ticket to it.
This underscores why nations worldwide see headcount as very essential.
Census provides data that help governments plan for development across board, identifying needs in rural communities and improving the standard of living for citizens.
Records show that Egypt had the exercise in the late middle kingdom, China during the Han dynasty, India during the reign of emperor Chandragupta Maurya under the leadership of Chanakya and Ashoka, France in 1328, mostly for fiscal purposes, estimating the French population then at 16 to 17 million.
In Nigeria, history of census dates back to 1866, 1871, 1881 and 190 in Lagos colony, and then for southern protectorate including Lagos and the northern protectorate in 1911.
However, there had been repeated delays to the exercise since the last census in 2006.
The exercise, which was planned to be digital, ended up being postponed indefinitely in April 2023.
It is instructive to note that census in Nigeria, has over the years, been trailed by controversies and allegations of data manipulation for political purposes.
Population figures are often used as tool for ethnic dominance, especially by politicians.
This ends up beclouding the socio-economic essence of the demographic process.
Last month, speaker of the house of representatives, Tajudeen abbas canvassed holding the population and housing census this year, noting that it would be difficult to hold the exercise in 2026 due to preparations for 2027 general election.
Should the government decide to conduct the exercise, national population commission, NPC should still stick to the planned digitalisation of the process as it will go a long way in addressing overcount and undercount.
The national population commission should therefore effectively and efficiently utilise geographic information systems (GIS) to create maps for enumeration and data presentation, global positioning systems (GPS) to annotate maps and satellite photographs.
No doubt, internet features including mail, phones will be of significant help to NPC field workers in collecting data from respondents.
But then, government needs to take internet service providers to task to ensure seamless operation.
Undertaking demographic analysis, post-enumeration surveys, and comparison with other official sources of data, will also significantly help the exercise.
It is needful that NPC gets its acts right in conducting technology-based census.
The commission should learn from the hiccups of INEC’S electronic voting process, by ensuring that standard gadgets are deployed and personnel adequately trained.
On their part, Nigerians should see the headcount as a crucial exercise and make themselves available to be counted.
NPC should undertake massive sensitisation of Nigerians about the digital nature of the headcount and what is expected of them.
Religious leaders and the traditional institution should give impetus to the exercise by helping to disabuse the minds of people from biases arising from uninformed religious or cultural notions about headcount. That viewpoint was on urgency for a credible digital census in Nigeria.
