By Fred Doc Nwaozor
Today, the global community is commemorating the World Population Day. The day is an annual event observed on July 11 every year, which seeks to raise awareness on global population issues. The event was solely established by the Governing Council of the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) in the year 1989.
The establishment was inspired by the public interest on July 11, 1987, which was the day the world’s population reached approximately five billion people.
Population can be defined as the total number of persons or animals of the same kind coexisting in a particular place. It can also be referred to as the summation of all the organisms of the same group or species that live in the same geographical area, and have the capability of interbreeding.
In most cases, it is the human population that is mainly taken into consideration because it is the only mode of population that determines the Gross Domestic Product (GDP) as well as the net worth of a given society or country.
The last time I checked, the rate at which the population of a certain locality increases was attributed to two major factors namely, birth rate and death rate. The birth rate of an existing society such as a province, nation or country is an estimation of the number of kids that are being reproduced within a given period of time, while the de rate is the total number of individuals that cease to exist at a specific interval.
It’s noteworthy that every society or locality is naturally blessed with a certain number of people known as its population, which increases periodically based on the aforementioned factors.
So, as the nation awaits her next population census, come 2017, which is usually observed at every ten years interval, the National Population Commission (NPC) is expected to leave no stone unturned towards ensuring that nothing but absolute success is recorded during the awaited exercise.
First; there’s a compelling need for rigorous awareness campaign regarding the project. We must take into cognizance that not every citizen of the country, likewise other developing nations, is privileged to listen to the radio, watch television, read the newspaper/magazine, access the internet or the social media, or what have you. To this end, I implore the NPC to employ all the needed avenues with a view to ensuring that no citizen of the country is sidelined as regards information.
Thus, collaborating with other relevant corporate bodies to include the National Orientation Agency (NOA), civil society groups, religious institutions, and schools, among others, would be very helpful.
Secondly, contrary to the De-facto method of enumeration that’s intended to be used by the NPC during the exercise, which is not unusual compared to the previously conducted ones, I strongly insist that the De-jure method of enumeration would be more reliable and accurate for the exercise. The latter, if utilized, would unarguably enable the personnel to acquire the clear picture of every citizen of the country thereby enabling the commission (NPC) to arrive at a holistic conclusion.
The De-jure method, which involves house-count, would definitely ensure that every member of a given home or family irrespective of where he/she resides or is based is duly counted during the census. People shall be counted based on their respective states of origin; in other words, the houses to be attended to shall be those that are owned by only the indigenes of the affected state. This approach would also enable us to acquire the exact number or statistics of persons that hail from each state of the federation.
During the census, the NPC officials need to request from those present at the houses visited the documents that indicate the authenticity of the membership or citizenship of the absentees or those residing abroad, as the case may be, such as birth certificate, LGA’s certificate of origin and/or evidence of schools attended. The proposed method wouldn’t only be result-oriented, but cost and labour effective indolence while the concernment lasts.
On the other hand, it’s obvious that the project in question is capital intensive. Hence, the commission in collaboration with other relevant agencies ought to set up a competent, formidable and reliable ad-hoc committee strictly for fund raising and other related matters. Most importantly, there’s a compelling need for the NPC, among other concerned authorities, to extend hand of fellowship to the cognoscenti towards attaining a hitch-free and successful 2017 population census in Nigeria. Think about it!
We have been reliably informed by the NPC that only its staff would be involved in the exercise; it’s a very wonderful and welcome idea. But the commission is required to use every means to decisively warn its personnel or any concerned body to steer clear of any form of unpatriotic act including cheating.
Comrade Nwaozor is a public affairs and civil rights activist and Chief Executive Director, Centre for Counselling, Research and Career Development, Owerri. [email protected] +2348028608056 Twitter: @mediambassador
