The National Population Commission (NPC) has clarified that people do not need to return to their state of origin to have their data captured during the 2023 census exercise.
The commission said it had put up measures to guard against all malpractices ahead of the forthcoming population and housing census.
Addressing newsmen on Monday, March 27, the spokesperson for the commission, Isiaka Yahaya, stressed that citizens would be enumerated at their places of residence and that those living away from their states of origin do not need to travel home for the exercise.
“People should stay where they are to be counted. They are not to move to their states of origin. It is totally against the essence of the census. You have to be counted where you reside because that’s where you enjoy the social facilities like education and health, among others.
“Apart from this, when the time comes for people to be provided with infrastructure and other things, you will not allow the planners to have accurate figures. People are not to move,” Yahaya told our Reporter
Speaking on measures to check malpractices, the NPC spokesman added: “This is a de facto census. We are asking practical questions about those living, not those yet to be born. We have not trained our enumerator to count people who are not yet born. We have a system in place to guard against all the malpractices that we have envisaged.
“Also, people can only be counted in their houses. This is to discourage people from moving from one place to another after being counted. You can only be counted in one place. There’s will nothing to lie about. When we get to your house, the enumerators will see whatever you say you have, and we are not asking for the owner of the house; why will anybody lie?”
Yahaya said the commission had not finished the recruitment process for enumerators.
Source: Punch
