The National Population Commission (NPC) has announced that a total number of one million Nigerians will be recruited by the federal government to ensure a successful conduction of the national census coming up in 2023.
The census commission gave the assurance that a reliable and credible technological innovation had been put in place by the NPC for the conduct of the exercise to prevent politicians and interested elite from manipulating the process.
Mr Deji Ajayi, the commissioner representing Ekiti at the NPC, disclosed this in Ado Ekiti, yesterday, at a press conference on the trial census to be conducted in the state ahead of the next year’s main census exercise.
Mr Ajayi added that nine towns across nine local governments selected out of the 16 LGAs in the state, had been delineated into Enumerated Areas (EAs) to ease the trial census.
He also pointed out some areas to be enumerated in the trial census as Ado, Emure, Iro, Ijero, Ikole, Iworoko, Ise, Ikun and Omuo Ekiti.
Explaining the importance of census to nation building, Mr Ajayi said that the population statistics would be used by private organisations to plan for the recruitment of young Nigerians by knowing the number of the active population.
“The government will also use such statistics to plan for our youth, students and the health needs of Nigerians. They will also know the number of senior citizens who should be catered for.”
Assuring that the exercise will be difficult to manipulate, the NPC boss said, “The biometric technology will capture your face and fingerprints and goes to the server and any similar information supplied will be noticed and expunged from the data immediately.