Benue NPC Commissioner Pledges Hitch-Free Census

The National Population Commission (NPC) in Benue state has assured residents and the international community of its readiness to conduct a credible, reliable, and acceptable 2023 Population and Housing Census, PHC.

The commission reiterated that the exercise would be carried out meticulously, professionally and scientifically.

NPC Federal Commissioner for Benue state, Patricia Kupchi who gave the assurance while flagging off the State Level Training of Facilitators in Makurdi said the training was designed to equip participants with necessary knowledge and skills to productively participate in the conduct of the census.

She explained that the trainees would step down the training to the Local Government Areas, LGAs, with the training of Enumerators and Supervisors in readiness for the census.

"The Training Plan provides a clear understanding of what must happen to meet the training requirements that have been defined.

"As such, it is important that functionaries are trained in the knowledge and skills required to support their responsibilities, the processes, and technology to be used during the census.

“In a digital census, it is imperative that a digitally skilled workforce is utilized, thus, a mixed training program for the 2023 PHC which includes self-learning study, online virtual training with monitored simulated hands-on and in-person classroom training was designed.

"The quality of the personnel for the 2023 PHC has a great impact on the outcome of the census.

"Therefore, the need to properly train the facilitators who will, in turn, train the supervisors and the enumerators at the local government level cannot be overemphasized.

“For the next ten days, participants at this first level of state training will re-evaluate the skills and practical demonstrations of operations in the field with the overall effort to deliver a truly scientific credible and acceptable 2023 Census.

"Thus, the conduct of the training of facilitators is our strategy of making sure that the journey we make towards the next census is strong and error-proof.

“For us in the Commission, getting the 2023 PHC right is not just an option but an absolute necessity in our quest to deliver a credible, reliable, acceptable and verifiable 2023 census.

"The Commission will leave no stone unturned to ensure that the 2023 census is carried out meticulously, professionally, and scientifically.

“In preparation for the 2023 census the Commission has introduced new technologies such as CensusPAD and CSPro to ensure that the 2023 Population and Housing Census is credible, reliable and acceptable.

“The geospatial and infrastructure data, as well as the enumeration form, shall be uploaded on the tablets, also called Personal Digital Assistant (PDA), which are ultra-portable computers that can run a variety of software programs.

"Based on the above, the data collection in the 2023 Population and Housing Census shall be through Computer Assisted Personal Interviews, CAPI.

“To ensure that the 2023 Census does not lose focus in view of predetermined objectives and processes, monitoring and evaluation (M&E) instruments have been developed to assess the extent to which objectives are being met or not and whether the processes are being adhered to or not.

“The Commission wishes to assure Nigerians and the international community of its readiness to conduct a credible, reliable, and acceptable 2023 Population and Housing Census."