Census: Ensure you are counted, Fed Govt tells Nigerians
Tamarauemi Ebimini
The Federal Government has urged Nigerians to make themselves available for the National Population and Housing Census billed for May.
Information and Culture Minister Lai Mohammed spoke at a town hall meeting organised by the National Publicity Committee on the census yesterday in Kano.
The minister, who was represented by the Director General of the National Orientation Agency (NOA), Dr. Garba Abari, said the census was aimed at collating data for effective national planning.
He dismissed insinuations that the census questionnaire would ascertain the religion of respondents as falsely portrayed on some social media platforms.
Mohammed insisted that the data obtained would be solely used for national planning and development purposes as well as help in improving the nation’s security architecture.
The town hall meeting, the minister said, was organised to create the requisite awareness about the forthcoming census.
He stressed that the stakeholders were invited to obtain information and feedback from the grassroots in order to ensure a hitch-free exercise.
Mohammed also said the publicity committee was working hard to tackle fake news and misinformation on the exercise.
Some of the participants who spoke with NAN advised the National Population Commission (NPC) to embark on more sensitisation programmes.
The National Housing and Population Census will begin on May 3.
