Oluwanifemi Ojo
The National Population Commission has said individuals residing outside their states of origin are not required to travel back home for the census.
This was according to the commission’s spokesperson, during an interview with The Punch on Monday.
The spokesperson added that the commission has implemented measures to prevent any fraudulent activities during the upcoming population and housing census.
The census will however be conducted at the individuals’ current places of residence.
In his words,”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 is 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.”
Also speaking about how to prevent census malpractices, the NPC spokesman warned that unborn children must not be counted.
He said, “This is a de facto census. We are asking practical questions about those who are living, not those who are 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 nothing to lie about. When we get to your house, the enumerators would see whatever you say you have and we are not asking for the owner of the house, why will anybody lie?,” he added.
This publication recalls that the Federal Government announced a shift of the population and housing census earlier scheduled for the end of March to May, 2023.
According to the Minister of Information and Culture, Lai Mohammed the decision to shift the date was needed because of the governorship election that took place on March 18.
Meanwhile, Yahaya said the commission is still in the recruitment process for enumerators.
