Dr. Tony Aiyejina, the Federal Commissioner representing Edo State in the National Population Commission (NPC), explained on Wednesday that the postponement of the 2023 general elections by the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) was the primary reason for the NPC’s decision to reschedule the population census.
During an interactive media chat organized by the Commission in Benin, Dr. Aiyejina stated that while the NPC had initially shifted the census date to May, the onset of the rainy season made it impractical to conduct the exercise to maintain the principle of simultaneity followed in census exercises worldwide.
However, he assured that whenever the census is eventually conducted, it will not only be accurate but also reliable and auditable, representing a clear departure from the controversies surrounding past censuses.
He further emphasized that the use of Personal Digital Assistant (PDA) devices will eliminate the human errors that occurred in previous census exercises.
While dispelling the insinuation in the public domain that the Commission had expended the sum of N800 billion before the exercise was postponed, he said contrary to that claim, “NPC had expended N200 billion out of the N800 billion budgeted for the exercise before it was postponed.”
He said, “The postponement of the election by INEC led to the shift of the census. However, with the rainy season, the census is no longer possible at this time.
“The censuses of the past were riddled with controversies. One thing about the 2023 census is that the immediate past president, Muhammadu Buhari did not attempt to teleguide the commission.
“We opted for digital census and we introduced the Personal Digital Assistant which is deliberately configured and can be tracked to monitor fieldwork.
“This is to ensure that the census will not only be accurate, but it will also be reliable and auditable. But because elections and census in Nigeria have a relationship, we intend to insulate the census from politics.
“We thought that a gap of two months or so after the election will suffice. But whatever happened in INEC affected NPC which had to adjust its timeline from March to May before we ran into a quagmire due to the rain, which made the postponement inevitable. It is not because we did anything wrong or something went wrong,” Aiyejina explained.
While reiterating the importance of the census, he noted that “census is for future planning and not for the present government. This is why it is important that everything is done to make the figure accurate so that the government can plan well. The government needs accurate statistics to plan with scientific certitude. Nigeria can catch up with the developed countries of the world if we provide accurate census figures for the government to plan.”
He, therefore, urged residents of the state to make themselves available anytime the Commission was ready for the exercise, saying “while the apathy in an election can be excused, that cannot be accommodated in a census”, counselling that there would be no need for residents to move to their hometowns during the exercise but should be counted wherever they resided.
At the session, senior members of staff of the Edo NPC such as Mr. Saturday Ekeoba, presented papers on “Cartographic Perspectives in Census Making; Mrs. Rita Aigbokhan on “Preparation for Census in Edo State; and Mrs. Adesuwa Aigbobayi on “Overview of Vital Registration in Edo State.”
