In preparation for the 2017 population census, the National Population Commission (NPC) has begun the second phase of the Enumeration Area Demarcation (EAD) exercise in Ogori-Magongo Local Government Area of Kogi State.
Addressing reporters on the exercise in the capital, Lokoja, the NPC Federal Commissioner in-charge of the state, Alhaji Mohammed Akubo Aikoye explained that the EAD forms the foundation on which the entire 2017 census will stand.
He said that the exercise will run till March 14, and solicited the support of the media, traditional rulers, religious leaders and other stakeholders to help drive it.
He assured that the exercise will be professionally handled to avoid lapping EADs, oversized or under-sized enumeration areas and nonexistent enumeration areas in the 2017 census exercise.
The commissioner said that the ongoing EAD will be the last that the NPC will embark on a full scale, noting that further censuses would only require updating of the EADs.
He made it clear that the EAD was not an exercise to determine the population of any community but efforts to divide the country into smaller geographical areas to facilitate enumeration.
The commissioner said that the NPC will also use the opportunity of the enumeration exercise to carry out registration of birth and death in Ogori-Magongo council.
According to him, the efforts which will be done in partnership with the UNICEF is to boost birth registration in Nigeria.
He added: “Exploring all opportunities to boost registration of births and deaths is paramount. Registration officials will visit all households and mop up the registration of all unregistered births. This will also create more awareness on the importance of vital registration exercise.”
Credit: The Nation
