The National Population (NPC), at the weekend, inspected and took delivery of 100,000 Personal Digital Assistant (PDA) devices for the 2023 Population and Housing Census.
Speaking during the handover ceremony in Lagos, NPC Chairman, Alh. Nasir Kwarra, said that the PDA device was the major medium for the digital census, hence, determined the success of the project.
Kwarra said that the digital device had the census questionaire, as well as the maps that would direct the enumerators to the Enumeration Areas, where they would conduct the exercise.
He said that the devices when provisioned with the forms, maps and other digital enhancement ensured that enumerators are unable to go beyond the areas assigned to them.
According to him, the PDA device will ensure that there will be no over-count or under-count, as there will be no gap or overlap.
“With all enhancement that the National Population Commission is provisioning the devices with, e.g the Mobile Device Management, we can monitor the enumerators on the field and ensure that the data provided by Nigerians are secured and well managed for their privacy.
“The geospatial resources that NPC has acquired will be deployed on the devices. This will ensure that all Nigerians are counted where they are and live. We will also be able to collect statistics on housing type and characteristics for better physical and social planning by government for the nation.
“The homeless will be counted, tied to their usual place of abode, referenced with geo-coordinates, the Special Population: nomads, migrants, people in transit etc will be counted with geo-reference to where they are found at the time of the census. Everyone will be counted because all Nigerians count,” he said.
The chairman said that the commission had a robust geo-spatial data, which with the conduct of a digital census would aid planning in all aspects of national development.
He commended Zinox Technologies Ltd. for the prompt and professional way it had handled the implementation of the contract of delivering the PDA devices.
Kwarra said that the commission was adhering to President Muhammadu Buhari’s executive order on local content, as well as the National Information Technology Development Agency (NITDA) regulation on Local Original Equipment Manufacturers (OEM) in the procurement of the PDA devices.
He said that the delivery of the devices confirmed the commission’s readiness for the conduct of the 2023 Population and Housing Census.
“Given the scope and number of PDAs to be deployed in the conduct of the 2023 Census, the commission is confident that data collection for future censuses and surveys will witness profound improvement.
“Let me use this opportunity to assure Nigerians that the National Population Commission is irrevocably committed to positively rewrite the history of censuses in Nigeria and deliver to this great nation, accurate and reliable census data.
“I, therefore, appeal to Nigerians to join the commission in the bid to give our dear country accurate and reliable data through the forthcoming 2023 Population and Housing Census.
“In addition, there is the need for a shift in national attitude that sees census data as a tool for seeking economic and political advantages.
“Rather, we must strive to discover the real essence of the census data as a treasure of information and compass in the effort to build and plan a greater and prosperous Nigeria,” the chairman said.
Also speaking, the NPC Federal Commissioner, representing Lagos State, Mrs Abimbola Salu-Hundeyin said that it was the first time that the country was engaging in digital census.
Salu-Hundeyin said that NPC was leveraging heavily on technology because the world had gone digital, that deploying technology would help to get accurate, dependable and useable data.
“If you want accuracy you go digital, if you want speed, you need technology and that is what we are trying to do.
“For you to count over 200million people within five to seven days, you need to be in tune with the best and fastest digital process, which is what the National Population Commission is leveraging on by this time,” she said.
The Chairman of Zinox Group, Mr Leo Stan Ekeh, said that the company had built a system of integrity and a record of excellence, hence, the award of the contract to provide the PDA devices for the census.
Ekeh said that until there was a credible data census figure, the country cannot plan well.
“It is a privilege for the federal government to consider us among many other companies in the world,a because they know we have the capacity.
“We are giving in all our resources to make sure it is successful,” he said.