NPC Expresses Readiness To Promotes Positive Dev

Determined to chart a new course in census taking in Nigeria , the National Population Commission [NPC], has expressed its readiness to promote a positive tradition of proper appreciation of the population characteristics and their implication for development.
Making this known last Thursday in a keynote address delivered on the occasion of the zonal Dissemination seminar of the Priority Tables of the 2006 Population and Housing Census [South East Edition], held at the Universal Hotel, Enugu, the chairman, National Population Commission, chief Samu’Ila Danko Makama, stated that this is the only the nation can derive maximum benefits from the census experience.
According to him, the conduct of the dissemination seminars is in furtherance of the noble objectives of ensuring adequate dissemination and wider utilization of the 2006 census data.
“Our determination in the regard is reinforced by a strong conviction that the priority tables of the 2006 census and other data to be released in due course would lay a solid foundation for the social and economic development of Nigeria . The data not only cut across all spheres of the economic and social sectors , but also seek to capture the dynamics and complexities of the factors that affect of these factors.”
Chief Makama reasoned that if properly analyzed, the 2006 census would be a numerical encyclopedia of the country and a blue print for future development, adding that it can be used to measure a lot of socio-economic variables upon which policies can be formulated.
His words: “The size of the population between the ages 6 and 22 is a good measure of the school age population and the number of schools to be built for them. The number of teachers to be employed in these schools can also be determined and arrangements for their training made. The size of the female population aged between 18 and 45 would assist in making provisions for maternal healthcare such as the number of maternity centers and family clinics.”
The NPC chairman made it clear that the 2006 census was the first attempt to collect data on household amenities and facilities in Nigeria , pointing out that “The data contain information on types of houses , ownership , sources of water, lighting and fuel, as well as methods of waste disposal, types of roofing and flooring materials.”
The relevance of these data to all developmental goals at national and international levels, he said, cannot be over emphasized.
He, however , regretted that one major challenge to modern governance was the infrastructural gap which has denied majority of citizens access to good quality of life, hoping that the data on housing in the 2006 census would not only reveal the extent and pattern of these infrastructural gaps , but serve as a guide to government, development agencies and other stakeholders on how best the gap can be closed.
Also in a welcome address on the occasion, the Federal Commissioner ,National Population Commission, Enugu state, chief M. O. Ani, stated that the process for the generation of the priority tables have been a long and painstaking exercise that began immediately after the conduct of the 2006 census.
Chief Ani maintained that the 2006 census data processing and tabulation “have been described as possibly the biggest statistical and administrative exercise undertaken on the continent of Africa and the 8th biggest in the world.”