Enugu State Governor, Ifeanyi Ugwuanyi has called on the local government Chairmen, Traditional rulers, presidents-general of town unions and religious leaders and other stakeholders in Enugu State to create awareness about the coming 2023 census among their followers.
The governor made the call while declaring open the Enugu state stakeholders Summit on the 2023 Population and Housing census organised by the National Population Commission in Enugu.
The governor, represented by Steve Oluruo said that Enugu state had put every arrangement on the ground to ensure a peaceful conduct of the exercise in the state including security.
According to him Enugu will have a successful digital census come 2023 and that all facilities including logistics has been put in place.
He called on Enugu residents to come out in their numbers to be counted because of the economic value it would impact on the state as regards to developments.
The convener , Federal commissioner National Population Commission Enugu, Ejike Ezeh said the meeting marks a milestone in the journey to the first ever digital census in Nigeria and that his commission is prepared to carry out the exercise in every part of the state.
Read also: 2023 polls: Journalists must be cautious, embrace ethics of profession – Don
Responding to a question on proper sensitisation of the people at rural areas, the commissioner said, “Work in progress we can’t say we are already there but the assurance we are giving is that by God’s grace we will get there, also another big exercise will come before the population will take place by April 2023, the election is coming up after the election we are going to have our exercise and between now and that time , I can assure you that our people will be well sensitised , before then we will roll out all our plans in place. We are going to reach all hooks and crannies of this country as far as the publicity and advocacy are concerned.
He appreciated the Enugu state governor for supporting them during the Enumeration Area Demarcation exercise, which he said was fully carried out in all the 17 local government areas with the assistant of the local government Chairmen that also help them to step down the campaign and advocacy messages to the people at the local government areas and communities.
The commissioner explained that the aim of the stakeholders summit was to broaden state level support for the successful conduct of the 2023 census with specific objectives like to create public awareness on the conduct of the 2023 census including imperatives, methodology and timelines, to promote robust and informed conversation on the processes and procedures for the 2023 census, to solicit the cooperation and support of state level stakeholders for the conduct of the 2023 census and to provide a platform to offer clarification and receive feedback and suggestions on salient issues and concern related to the conduct of the 2023 population and Housing census.
He emphasised that “The goal of census taking was to ensure the results are acceptable and credible and that was why it was important to involve the stakeholders to get their feedback on instruments and to enrich the process.”
He said that the commission is committed to ensuring that the results of the census are acceptable to Nigerians and the quality of the data to be generated meets international best standard for planning and developmental purposes.
