| 2023 CENSUS CANNOT BE INFLUENCED BY POLITICIANS-IT’S DIGITAL CENSUS— NWINEH BARIKA GLORY—STATE DIRECTOR, RIVERS STATE OF NATIONAL POPULATION COMMISSION REVEALS The State Director in charge of National Population Commission – NPC in Rivers state Lady Nwineh Barika Glory has been working hard with the team preparing for 2023 Census which begins on 29th of March 2023 and ends on 2nd of April, 2023. She has engaged staff and material in preparation for the task ahead with lectures going on at various locations inside Rivers state capital Port Harcourt and its environs. At Port Harcourt she quickly got the venue of Harbour Road Girls Secondary School now Wesley Methodist Girls Secondary School, and Saint John’s campus of former Teachers training College Aba Road Port Harcourt as learning centers for ad hoc staff who will be mobilized on the field for the enumeration exercise in accurate National Census for Nigerians. The Chairman of Census Committee of National Population Commission, and Rivers state Representative Honourable Federal Commissioner at NPC, Dr. Ipalibo Macdonald Harry has been criss-crossing and coordinating the 36 states plus Federal Capital Territory-FCT Abuja being currently engaged in generating and managing demographic data for Nigeria in his capacity as Chairman, 2023 Census Committee of the National population Commission, NPC which has resulted in the preliminary stages of preparation being the 2023 National Census training activities going on in 36 states plus FCT Abuja. On the side-line of the Rivers state National Census training exercise at Wesley Methodist Girls’ Secondary School, Harbour Road Port Harcourt, Lady Nwineh Barika Glory on Monday 23rd of January,2023 granted audience to The Ear Witness Publisher/Editor-In- Chief, Emeka Amaefula-+234(0)8111813069 where she explained how the 2023 National Census being Nigeria’s 20th CENSUS will affect national planning and political activities in the future. READ ON May I meet you? My name is Nwineh Barika Glory, I am the State Director National Population Commission Rivers State Office. How prepared is the National population Commission about the upcoming 2023 national Census? My Commission is very well prepared in fact over prepared not just prepared. How prepared? Are there activities you have lined up towards the success of the 2023 national Census exercise? Yes, of course, like the one we are doing now being the preparation which is on top gear in readiness right now as activities will be going into training. And the level that we are now going to the grass root level of training like what is going on now is the Special Workforce training. And by Thursday 26th of January, 2023 we are going into the State Level training of which after that training which is going to be for ten days, then we are going to the Local Government Areas to train the Supervisors and Enumerators. That is why I said that we are already in the process. How about sensitization of the masses on this 2023 national Census, because there’s insecurity in the country and the masses seeing Agencies like yours might be apprehensive about their security. How are you going to prepare their minds in this National Census exercise? If you talk about insecurity, ordinarily we will say nobody has the power of security as the person that gives security is God. So, when you think that there’s no way we will say ‘Oh National Population Commission will have the power over the security of everybody,’ it’s not possible. It is just God. So, we know that the problem of insecurity is something that if we were able to carry out the demarcation of the whole country, which demarcation we started in 2017 and we concluded in 2022 in some areas. So, then I don’t think the one we have to do under 29th of March to April 2nd, 2023 will not be able to handle. So, insecurity cannot stop the programme because it’s not a personal thing for the National population Commission, it is a national Programme being the National Census. So, everybody and the government is involved. So, it is not a game of the Commission only. I mean in terms of sensitizing the publics in the state under your control, such as in the use of town criers, religious centres in the dissemination of information on the 20th National Census, how far have you gone on this? Like I stated by saying that we have been carrying out programmes, so we do that in synergy with National Orientation Agency, NOA and you know that they are the crusaders of Information. So, right now they are in the 23 Local Government Areas of Rivers state. We also have our controllers and officers in these 23 LGAS. People are on ground as we did Road Walk or Road Show, where we did from National, State and Local Government Areas. So, we use all mediums. Right now, the screening for Supervisors and Enumerators is ongoing. And the Controller decided to go to the Community Development Councils, CDC, to the market and to the Churches and to other places. So, everybody is involved right now as sensitization exercises are ongoing. So, we are using all the tools personalities like yourself, the media houses, they are all involved in the dissemination of information and sensitization of the 20th National Census because it’s not a one-man thing. It is like what everybody in this state has: we have NTA which is a national television, we have the state owned RSTV, the Radio Houses as everybody is on deck to ensure that there’s publicity to all nooks and crannies of Rivers state. Apart from being a Federal Government Commission, are you working in collaboration with the state to carry out certain functions? Well, as you said, that we are working in the state does not mean that we own the state. This is Rivers state. So, definitely there’s no way we’ll work without the state synergy. So, for sure we just have to work with the state as we have the Chairmen of the 23-LGAs. Like in the programme we did, chairmen are involved. So, whatever we do they are being carried along as we send letters to them. And everybody, they know whatever we are doing. I mean like we do know that within the state Local Government Areas belong to the Chairmen, so they also replicate that in their own respective LGAs. So, there’s no way we will be in Rivers state and work alone because the census is not only for the Population Commission but it is for Nigeria and for Rivers state. When the Census Result comes it is not going to be the Population Result for Rivers State, it’s going to be the Rivers State Result and the National Census 2023 Result for Rivers State. Now let’s look at some vital points, there’re extraneous forces like political forces in some states who are going to be influencing the outcome of the National Census Result, is that not possible? It’s not possible now. Do you know why? We are using the de facto method and we are using Digital like what we are doing now. It is called Digital Census as it is no longer biro and paper when somebody will come and give you a notebook where they have filled names and ask you to copy. You cannot do that. I see you like I have my phone. I walk into your house and I will ask you questions, those I see are those I will capture. And the moment I leave your house if I don’t have anybody, I drop Call back for me to come back and do it. And I will close anything about it. And that ends that. The moment I leave what we call EA, that is the Enumeration Area, if I have left that area and I have sent my work, there’s nothing you will do for me to come back. So, the possibility of politically influencing the outcome is ruled out because it is digital. You know that the outcome of the Census will determine the allocation of State Resources? Yes, that’s the meaning of Census which is for planning. So, whatever you’re doing, you’re doing it towards that and that is the reason why the National Population Commission has decided that we must give Nigerians a Credible and Successful National Census which must be accepted by Nigerians. Are there difficulties that you are encountering in the preparations that you are doing such as the quality of education we are having now which you know has dropped? How is that affecting the calibre of participants that you are training for the 2023 National Census? It is true for some time, like you see, what we are doing is the screening of Facilitators who will be training on Thursday 26th of January 2023. Yes, there are those who just fall in just like you rightly stated on educational standards which have fallen. And when they went to the portal because the application was done online, they saw the Facilitator and they thought that, that is the least. You see somebody some undergraduates, Secondary School Leavers and they just picked on that. On a few occasions for those that I have to see one- on- one, I have to look at them and ask them who is a facilitator and what is facilitator? And your response will tell me whether you are selected or rejected. So, definitely for sure you are going to have such. Again, whether they have because the least qualification we are using for this programme as Enumerator is possession of West African School Certificate, WAEC, being Senior Secondary School Certificate SSCE Ordinary Level, which is the first level of School which is Secondary school. So, if they have that then whatever you will find out that again because we are using these gadgets you will find out that younger generations are more in tune and more used to it than older generations. You will find out that they are still performing better because they will be taught. And when they are taught, they catch up faster. Again, we are looking for those who fall in the ‘not trainable category’ then they don’t fit in if you are not trainable. But we have not seen that yet for those who are not trainable. Just like we are here now if you watch you will see those Facilitators there even though they attended the online training, we started with ‘Visual Training’ after that we have the ‘Contact Training’. What we are doing is Contact Training for those who have been trained from the Visual Training for Special Workforce. We have done the first seven days and extended it to two days. And they did all the written examinations and they were selected. So, we have known what system it is, so we try to put everything in phases. The Contact Training that we are doing now is to let us know them one-on-one. Let’s see how they can really perform because even though they wrote exams and passed, sometimes exams are not true knowledge of wisdom of individuals on education as some might pass examinations but not be able to put it into practice. So, everything is going well here. Can you tell us the duration of the actual National Census, when is it starting and closing? Right now, like I said we have started already. The process that we are now is the proper Enumeration that is going to be from 29th of March 2023 to 2nd April, 2023. So, within the period everybody will be captured. What message do you have for the people out there who are going to be enumerated? I will always advise us especially here in Rivers state, in a state where everybody sees people who come out as Tax collectors or Task Force, Electricity Distribution Companies e.g Port Harcourt electricity Distribution Company-PHED. So, when they see us, they should not see us as those people. We are going to have our Emblems and Reflective jackets. we’re going to have our bags and we are going to have our Identity Cards to differentiate us from those people. So that they don’t see us and lock their doors. Like I said, it’s de facto, I see you and I count you. Because if you see me and shut your door against me you cannot be counted. And when you do that in an area, that is going to cause under enumeration because it’s going to reduce the figures of the population. Like here now a whole line of Classroom blocks you lock your door against me, you don’t expect the same figures I will get when they are counted. Which is what I will get when they are enumerated when they are not part of it. They should know that population is what determines their planning. It is also for politicians. I think I want to send this message to them. Politicians don’t seem to have value for the National Population Census. But that is their root for one, you cannot get a Polling Unit without population. You cannot get your voters without population Census as you cannot come and manufacture all these figures. There must be people in an area before you can now say ok, you should come and vote. You cannot ask grasses or sand to come and vote or you say because of these sands I assign you a Polling Unit, it’s not done that way. So, we want politicians to change their mentality as they don’t see population Census as important. They tend to neglect it. They believe that the Independent National Electoral Commission INEC is the end of the game. No. Without the population of any particular area, you cannot say that you have conducted an election and you win. So, I want them to owe it as a programme so that at the end of the day they will be able to beat their chests and say, ‘yes, this is the population of my people’. ——————-Emeka Amaefula————+234(0)8111 |
