NPC Trains 150 Principal Trainers In South East Ahead Of Trial Census

A number of 150 principal trainers in the South-East zone are currently undergoing training ahead of the 2023 Population and Housing Census.

The workshop was declared open in Awka, weekend, Anambra State capital, by the chairman of the commission, Mr Nasir Isa Kwara.

Isa Kwara said the exercise was to ensure the delivery of a credible and reliable census to the nation.

The trainees comprise staff members of the commission, technical experts and university teachers.

Kwara, represented by the federal commissioner in charge of Enugu State, Mr Ejike Eze, said the principal trainers would in turn train the facilitators, supervisors, enumerators and other personnel to be deployed in the trial census.

According to him, “They will make up the 13,500 field functionaries who will participate in the trial census across the country.” He added that the training would equip its personnel with the skills needed to succeed in the field.

It would be a rehearsal for the 2023 Census, he said, adding that NPC commission had introduced new technologies to enable the smooth conduct of the exercise.

On security, Kwara assured that plans had been concluded for a hutch-free exercise.

Our correspondent reports that the trial census would cover the thirty-six states of the federation and the FCT, while only six local government areas across the geopolitical zones would have full enumeration.

A deputy director in the commission and zonal coordinator of the programme in the South East, Mrs Ekwy Elibe, said the involvement of experts and deployment of modern technology in the exercise were to ensure best practices in the generation of data for planning.

The director of NPC in Anambra, Mr Joachim Ulasi, said the trial census would take place in Idemili South Local Government Area.

He said the recruitment of personnel to participate in the exercise was done electronically and that data generated would be digitally captured in the central server of the commission to promote credibility and guard against manipulation.