By Oghenero Orovwuje
Delta State Government has said it is irrevocably committed to the success of the 2023 Population and Housing Census coming up in the country next year.
The state Governor and Vice Presidential candidate of the Peoples’ Democratic Party (PDP), Senator Dr. Ifeanyi Okowa, made this known during a stakeholders summit on 2023 census organized by the National Population Commission (NPC), in collaboration with the state government, held at the Unity Hall, Government House, Asaba.
Senator Okowa, represented by the Secretary to the State Government(SSG), Chief Patrick Ukah, said the theme of the summit: “Getting people involved” was apt as it aimed to strengthen collaboration between the state government and NPC and solicited the cooperation and support of key stakeholders for the successful conduct of the 2023 census.
He said it was imperative to convene the summit in order to promote a robust and informed state level conversation on the processes and procedures for the 2023 census.
The governor said this would encourage citizens to submit themselves for enumeration purposes, noting that population data was critical to development planning for any government.
In a welcome address, the State Director, NPC, Mr. Patrick Okonkwo Lotobi, stated that the processes for the census began with Enumeration Area Demarcation(EAD), followed by first and second pretests, Trial Census and Post Enumeration Trial Census in a few selected states which had been successfully carried out with the new digital technology.
He solicited the support of the state government, the legislative arm of the government, council chairmen, traditional institutions, religious organizations, women groups, youth organizations, security agencies and media to enable the commission achieve a successful 2023 census in Nigeria and Delta State.
In his presentation, the Federal Commissioner, representing Delta State at the NPC, Chief Richard Odibo, called on all stakeholders to join hands with the commission in realizing the dream of providing the needed demographic data that would facilitate the development of the country.
He appealed to Deltans to compliment government’s effort by making themselves available for the 2023 census saying that everybody would be counted during the exercise.
The Obi of Owa kingdom, Obi Dr. Efeizomor 11, on behalf of the traditional rulers, stressed the importance of the 2023 population and housing census in governance and urged all to take the exercise seriously.
Good will messages were received from the State Head of Service HoS, Mr. Reginald Bayoko(Mni), State Director, National Orientation Agency(NOA), representative of World Health Organization (WHO)and others who harped on the importance of the population and housing census, pledging to mobilize people to participate in the exercise.
The ceremony featured drama on the 2023 census by the state cultural troupe and technical session where the head of the technical team, Mr. Joel Johnson Amah, reflected on the past census, saying that the 2023 census would be of international standard.