The National Population Commission, NPC, has organised a one-day sensitisation workshop for members of the newly inaugurated Cross River State 2023 Census Publicity Committee.
The capacity building workshop, which was focused on the Processes and Methodology of the forthcoming 2023 population and housing census, was declared open by the Federal Commissioner representing Cross River, Captain Charles Ogwa in Calabar, the state capital.
In a brief remark, Captain Ogwa said that the capacity-building workshop was essential to enlighten members of the committee on the preparedness of the commission to conduct a census agreeable and acceptable to Nigerians.
According to him, “The commission knows that information is key to everything. This workshop has been put together as an enlightenment package to enable members of this publicity committee to understand the processes we have already undertaken to ensure we have a hitch-free, credible exercise.
“Our vision as a commission is to ensure we generate a credible user-friendly database that would be acceptable to all Nigerians and meets international standards. Worthy of note is that this population and housing census will be conducted using technology; it is what we call a digital census and we need for the people to understand how important this exercise is to our development as a state and nation,” he stated.
Train-the-trainer
In his remarks, the chairman of the Cross River State Census Publicity Committee and Commissioner for Information, Mr. Eric Anderson appreciated the commission for organising a capacity-building workshop for the members.
Anderson said that the forum has enlightened the members of the committee on the achievements the National Population Commission has recorded so far in the state and country.
He urged the participants to “engage in active sensitisation of others within their immediate community. This is more like a train-the-trainer workshop and so I expect to see the representatives of the religious organisations, market women, the media and others educate their members on the importance of this census to our state.
“This Sunday, I am charging all religious leaders to base their sermon on the forthcoming census. Just like we have heard here, the census will enhance planning, resource allocation and provision of basic social amenities. So, as a state and a people, we have no choice but to key into this exercise,” he said.
Earlier, the State Director of the NPC, Mr. Stanley Itam said that the 2023 census, which is overdue, was coming 17 years after the 2006 exercise, a period longer than the United Nations recommended 10 years intervals.
Itam reiterated the preparedness of the commission to conduct a population and housing census in Cross River State and enjoined the committee to utilise their various platforms to sensitise the people within their domain.
Dominica Nwabufo
