The National Population Commission in collaboration with the office of the National Security Adviser in Nigeria has Inaugurated National Security and Logistics Committee ahead of the 2023 Population and Housing Census in the country.
The National Chairman of the Commission Mr Nasir Kwarra said: “The Commission attaches great importance to the work of the Security and Logistics Committee whose work is critical and important to the commission’s quest for credible, reliable and acceptable census date for national planning.”
Mr. Kwarra assure members of the committee of Optimum support and that the commission is ready to fully support the committee in all areas to make it succeed in it assignments.
#PhotoNews: Inauguration of the 2023 Population and Housing Census National Security and Logistics Committee held at the Office of the National Security Adviser, Abuja – 7th February 2023.#YouCountBeCounted @nigimmigration @official_NSCDC @PoliceNG pic.twitter.com/E1dDLvr0om
— National Population Commission (@natpopcom) February 7, 2023
While Inaugurating the Committee, the National Security Adviser Major General Babagana Monguno, Rtd, said that “the need to provide the nation with accurate and reliable demographic data for policy formulation and planning for sustainable development cannot be overemphasised.”
Major General Monguno explained that “the task before the National Security and Logistic Committee is huge” and that “Nigeria is not only diverse in size, but also languages, residence, age and socio-economic orientation.”
Given the scope of the 2023 Population and Housing Census which will cover the entire country and involving the counting of every person resident in Nigeria and taking place simultaneously in every household in the country, safeguarding the personnel and materials as well as the smooth channelling of same, is imperative to the overall success of the Census exercise.
With these at the back of our minds and the desire to succeed in this venture, this Committee must be conscious of several risks factors that may militate against the successful conduct of the 2023 Census. The planning and conduct of a gigantic programme such as the census will no doubt come with its challenges in terms of security and logistics arrangement.
Potential areas of threats to the census includes physical attacks on NPC staff and facilities, attacks on security personnel on census duty, inter/intra-communal violence disrupting preparatory and main census work, attacks targeting NPC databases and ICT architecture, intimidation of members of the public to dissuade them from participating in the process, snatching and destruction of census materials, among others.
Most prominent is the issue of insecurity arising from banditry, kidnapping, armed conflicts, terrorism, insurgency and other violent crimes which poses a major challenge to the census exercise.
However, the government has put in serious efforts to make the country safe for everyone.
It is expected that with coordinated synergy by this Committee, the safe movement of personnel and materials before, during and after the census will be guaranteed because we have the confidence that with the calibre of members of this Committee, this national assignment will be carried out successfully.
It is in the light of this and the desire to bequeath an enduring legacy of evidence based planning for sustainable development that the conduct of the 2023 Population and Housing Census is of topmost priority to the administration of President Muhammadu Buhari GCFR.
Major General Monguno, Rtd, said that the setting up of the Committee and its inauguration at this point in time is therefore a necessary first step towards ensuring the peaceful and smooth conduct of the Census.
He added that “this is arising from the pivotal role a credible and reliable census data plays in planning for sustainable development.”
