The Minister of Finance, Zainab Ahmed has said that the upcoming 2023 census would require digital equipment for a successful exercise.
She said this on Monday at a meeting between high-level partners aimed to seek support for the conduct of the 2023 census in Abuja.
According to her, the population and housing census would involve digital maps, questionnaires, and cloud computing.
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Ahmed explained that the count method would ensure compliance with the global climate change campaign for reducing emissions by 30 per cent unconditionally and an additional 15 per cent conditionally by 2030.
According to her, it has become imperative and urgent for Nigeria to conduct another census almost two decades on, as clearly spelt out in the National Development Plan 2021 to 2025.
She said:
“This month marks 17 years since the last national census was conducted in Nigeria in 2006. By the United Nations standard, PHC ought to be conducted every 10 years.”
Ahmed added that there was a need to address the inconsistency in the nation’s census and statistical system, limiting the effectiveness of development initiatives premised on obsolete data.
The minister revealed
a major challenge over the years was inadequate funds to conduct the census.
She said:
“It is worthy to note that 60 per cent of the funding and other requirements for the 2006 census could not have been achieved without the invaluable support of the development partners, corporate bodies and other key stakeholders.”
Also speaking, the Minister of State, Budget and National Planning, Clem Agba, confirmed major activities had been completed in preparedness for the census exercise.
He said that in the demarcation of 773 local government areas into enumeration areas for the census, only Abadam LGA remains to be demarcated, and a hybrid enumeration strategy is being deployed for its demarcation.
Agba said the Buhari regime had set up a census call centre and situation room, conducted a trial post-enumeration survey, and convened a stakeholder’s conference at the national and state levels.
