The National Population Commission (NPC) in Bayelsa State has enlisted the support of stakeholders for its Enumeration Area Demarcation (EAD) preparatory to a reliable census.
Federal Commisioner, NPC, Bayelsa State, Mrs Gloria Izonfuo, who made the apeal during an advocacy and flag-off ceremony for the EAD, in Southern Ijaw Local Government Area, noted that the EAD was a fundamental step to a reliable census.
She explained that Southern Ijaw would be the sixth LGA to be covered by the EAD having earlier demarcated five LGAs in Bayelsa namely, Yenagoa, Ogbia, Kolokumo-Opokuma, Nembe and Brass.
“Enumeration Area Demarcation (EAD) is the delineation of a Local Government Area into Enumeration Areas (EAs); areas small enough for a pair of enumerators to cover during the Population and Housing Census.
“The EAD exercise is not the enumeration of persons living in the country and its outcome is in no way the determinant of the population of any locality, Local Government Area (LGA) or State.
“It is rather a major preparatory activity for Population and Housing Censuses that facilitates the estimation of both the human and material resources required for the census.
“Indeed, EAD is the vehicle that drives the entire census process, and the success of a credible and accurate census depends very much on the quality and reliability of the EAD. Also it is the foundation for the census.
“EAD creates the national sample frame for the country which is used by all MDAs, data collecting organisations and research institutions,” Izonfuo said.
She said that the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC), for instance, would work with the NPC during the EAD exercise to create digitised maps of INEC Registration Areas (Wards).
Also, she said that international agencies such as the IMF and the World Bank utilise the frame to measure and determine the economic and financial performance of the country.
She listed other benefits from the EAD to include up-to-date list of households, buildings, socio-economic infrastructural facilities and their geo-referenced distribution across localities, wards, LGAs and States.
According to Izonfuo,  information from these outputs are useful for development planning and efficient distribution of infrastructural facilities and provision of socio-economic services.
She also said that household distribution data from the EAD exercise could be used to ameliorate the adverse effects of the ravaging COVID-19 Pandemic by providing for a more systematic contact tracing and distribution of palliatives.
She noted that the NPC was deploying the latest technology in the preparation for the next population and housing census in the use of high-resolution satellite imagery and geoinformatics.
“The NPC, in its resolve to deliver to the country a Population and Housing Census that will stand the test of time, is deploying the latest technology for this EAD exercise.