NPopC seeks support of govt agencies, banks on data collection
NAN-HG-8
Data
By Mustapha Sumaila
Abuja, July 6, 2017 (NAN) The Chairman, National Population Commission (NPopC), Mr Eze Duruiheoma, has called for support from government agencies, private organisations and banks for effective national central data collection.
Duruiheoma made the call when he appeared as a guest on the News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) Forum on Thursday in Abuja.
“It is only NPopC that has constitutional mandate to conduct population of both persons and houses as well as the responsibility to ensure vital registration of births and deaths in the country,’’ he explained.
According to him, efforts and resources being used by some agencies of government would have been given to support his commission in conducting authentic data for the usage of all.
“As far as census is concerned, our commission remains the leading agency for a detailed data collection of human beings and housing while other agencies of government’s data were on narrow range.
“A typical census exercise conducted by NPopC collects more than 60 facts from questionnaires we administered, while that is not the case with other agencies.
“If other agencies of government can support and encourage us to conduct census, the duplication is unnecessary,” he said.
The chairman noted that if the commission got the required support and assistance, it would meet the expectations of Nigerians.
NAN reports that NIMC, FRSC, INEC and banks are generating data on individual citizens, drivers, voters and customers, respectively, as part of security measures.
It would be recalled that President Muhammadu Buhari had directed all concerned agencies to harmonise the issue of data collection on Nigerians.
This is yet to be complied by the affected agencies and financial institutions.
Meanwhile, Duruiheoma said that Nigeria has no actual figure for its population since the 2006 census.
He stated that the estimated population figure in public domain was just a mere projection which was done on the baseline of 2006 census.
According to him, the actual population of the country will be known after the census was conducted.
The chairman advised government to focus its attention on the conduct of the head counts because it would help in taking the country out of recession.
He warned that to come out of economic recession requires planning and data collection or else will be difficult to come out of it. (NAN)
MS/MST
Edited by Muhammad Suleiman Tola