Ebonyi
The National Population Commission (NPC) on Thursday, held a capacity-building workshop for Census Publicity Committee in Ebonyi as parts of preparation for the forthcoming head counts in the country.
Mr Darlington Okereke, NPC’s Federal Commissioner in Ebonyi declared open the one-day workshop for members of the committee in Abakaliki.
Okereke, who described the training workshop as “critical” said sustained publicity and enlightenment were imperative for the successfull conduct of the exercise.
“The convening of this training workshop for the state Census Publicity Committee is critical and it underscores the determination and commitment of the Commission to conduct a successful exercise by updating members on processes and methodology of the 2023 Population and Housing Census.
“The vision of the Commission for the 2023 census was to produce an inclusive and user-friendly data that would be used by all segments of the society for development planning and critical programme interventions.
“The aspiration is to ensure that the results of the census is acceptable to Nigerians and the quality of data generated meets international best standards,” Okereke added.
He, however called for the need for intensive advocacy, publicity and public enlightenment on citizens.
“The advocacy become more critical in view of the fact that the census is taking place immediately after the conduct of the 2023 general elections, which has just concluded.
Also speaking, the state Director of the Commission, Mrs Julia Manyike said the one-day capacity building was on the processes and methodology o the 2023 census Ebonyi publicity committee.
“The workshop intends to increase the knowledge base of the members of the publicity committee to appropriately disseminate information and educate the public on the census exercise,” Manyike added.
Mr Uchenna Orji, Chairman of the Census Publicity Committee in Ebonyi commended the Commission on the efforts achieve successful conduct of the housing census.
Orji, also State’s Commissioner for Information assured the committee would continue to support the processes, especially in the area of dissemination of information across the 13 local government areas of Ebonyi.
“The committee is going to develop a template for better coordination and hopefully, the Commission will have the best and acceptable conduct of the exercise not only in Ebonyi but Nation at large,” he added.
It reports that the three papers presented at the event include: Data qualify Management; Enumeration Area Demarcation and Digital Mapping for 2023 Population and Housing Census ang Processes and Methodology for the 2023 Census