The National Population Commission (NPC) has said it would ensure that the next Census in the country was conducted “meticulously, professionally and scientifically” with the deployment of latest technology.
According to the Commission, doing so would make the exercise accurate, reliable, acceptable and verifiable.
The federal commissioner representing Cross River state on the Commission’s board, Navy Capt. Charles Ogwa (retd.), stated this at a press briefing in Calabar, during the official flag-off of Phase II of the enumeration area demarcation exercise scheduled for Odukpani and Akamkpa local government areas of the state between December 9, 2020 and January 20, 2021.
He said: “The Commission is leaving no stone untouched in order to ensure that the EAD for the next Census is conducted meticulously, professionally and scientifically. For this reason, the Commission is deploying latest technology such as the high-resolution satellite imagery based on the principle of Geographic Information System (GIS) which enables all buildings as well as their attribute data, using data acquisition software, to be captured.
“The Global Positioning Systems (GPS) is also used for geo-referencing along with Personal Data Assistant (PDA) which are handheld devices/tablets loaded with appropriate software for population estimation and data capture. The EAD functionaries are also being trained on continuous basis in line with the deployed modern technology.”
Ogwa said there would be no political enumeration areas and, therefore, warned stakeholders and the political class not to attempt to influence enumerators.
“Stakeholders should allow enumerators to do their job. They should refrain from undue interference in the EAD exercise. The field functionaries need to be allowed to carry out their duties professionally.”
Also speaking, the NPC director in the state, Mr. Billy Eteng, charged residents of the two local government areas to give enumerators the cooperation they would need in the course of their duties, adding that the NPC was poised to give the country the population count that it would be proud of.
In his remarks, the Zonal Coordinator of National Bureau of Statistics, Ismaila Obuh, said naming of enumeration areas should be by consensus, while political enumeration areas should be avoided.
