Varsity Don Tasks FG On Proper Planning For Census
A University don, Professor Funso Olorunfemi, has called on the Federal Government to ensure that there is proper planning before the conduct of another census if the country is to avoid the pitfalls of the past as far as population census is concerned.
Olorunfemi, a professor of Geography and Environmental Management at the University of Ilorin, Kwara State, said the country cannot conduct a reliable census next year as being proposed by the Federal Government with the present situation.
The Don, who spoke in an advocacy lecture entitled: “Population in the Spirit of Change” which he delivered, said the head counts required proper planning that would include carving the country into enumeration areas and putting such in digital format.
“Digital imageries should be acquired for Enumeration Area (EA) demarcation. All EAs must be geo-referenced and edge matched to allow for storage in a Geographic Information System database.
“The advantage of this cannot be over-emphasized. One of which is the ability to store, retrieve and link to other attribute data within a national frame that can be used for future censuses. I learned that National Population Commission (NPC) may even require biometric data!
To this, I have my reservations,” Olorunfemi said.
He harped on the need for the Federal Government to, as a matter of priority, “first of all carry out an independent saying ‘Audit’ of the degree of preparedness of NPC before a census date is announced . Anything short of a near 100 per cent digital satellite based enumeration area maps within a GIS database environment should not be acceptable for the next Nigerian Census”.
The don who said the present 40-member NPC commission with representatives from states was unwieldy for a reliable census, advocated constitutional amendment “that will make it a seven-man commission or at most a nine-man commission fashioned in like manner to INEC made up of a Chairman and one representative each of the six-geopolitical zones. If expanded, the Director General of NPC and an appointed Secretary will make the commission nine.
“To achieve this requires a constitutional amendment that specifies State representation, this being suggested here that, what we should have is state Resident Commissioners and not State representation in the Commission. I wish to call on the Federal, Given all of the above, a census may not be feasible until 2020 or 2021 and this is possible if a census proclamation is made in 2017”, he stated.
Olorunfemi argued that if the administration of President Muhammadu Buhari desired true change regarding the NPC, it should take cognizance of the need to properly plan towards the next NPC in order to avoid errors of the past resulting in inaccurate population data and eventual unequal distribution of government’s presence across the country.
