President Muhammadu Buhari’s regime has promised that the 2023 census will be successfully conducted using digital tools for the exercise.

Specifically, finance minister Zainab Ahmed said the 2023 population and housing census would involve digital maps, questionnaires and cloud computing. 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.

Ms 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.

“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,” the regime’s finance minister said.

Ms 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.

She stressed that a major challenge over the years was inadequate funds to conduct the census.

“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,” the minister noted.

The Minister of State, Budget and National Planning, Clem Agba, said major activities had been successfully completed in preparedness towards the census exercise, revealing that in the demarcation of 773 local government areas into enumeration areas for the census, only Abadam LGA remains to be demarcated, and hybrid enumeration strategy is being deployed for its demarcation.

Mr 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. 

(NAN)