26th March, 2023
By Ikenna Uwadileke
The National Orientation Agency (NOA) has urged Nigerians to make themselves available for counting during the conduct of the 2023 National Population and Housing Census.
The Director-General of NOA, Dr Garba Abari, made the call during the News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) Forum in Abuja on Sunday.
NAN reports that the country is getting set for national population and housing census in May.
Abari, who is a member of the National Publicity and Advocacy Committee on census, said that the exercise is due to begin on May 3.
He, therefore, appealed to the media to help in educating Nigerians about the importance of presenting themselves for the headcount when it begins.
He said “I urge Nigerians to participate fully in the exercise so as to avail the country of the benefits that can be derived from the population and housing census.
“Nigerians, please remember you count, so come out and be counted. Census is for all of us and census is for development and development is all we need.”
While highlighting the importance of census to national planning and development, he emphasised the need for accurate figures that would be credible and acceptable, saying “in this day and era, we cannot be planning on the basis of conjectures.”
The NOA boss said that the technology to be deployed for the exercise would facilitate its credibility and acceptability.