BY KAYODE ANIMASAUN
Ahead of the 2023 Population and Housing census, the National Population Commission, NPC on Saturday held a capacity-building workshop for journalists in Ondo state, to ensure effective and adequate reportage of the exercise.
The one-day capacity building workshop was organised for some selected journalists in Ondo state and was held at the , NUJ Press Center, alagbaka, Akure.
Census will hold from March 29 to April 3, 2023 nationwide.
In an address, Federal Commissioner of NPC, for Ondo state, Prince Diran Iyantan, said the workshop was aimed at improving and widen the knowledge and understanding of journalists on basic issues involved in the census exercise.
Prince Iyantan stressed the need for journalists to use their various media outfits in projecting the level of NPC’s preparedness towards ensuring a hitch free census.
He said, “We have identified your roles as journalists and if truly we all believe in a better Nigeria, we need to work together and make this census exercise a success in the interest of national development.
“We want to have the total number of houses in the country and their condition so as to give us correct and social demographic data as well as economic situation and standard of living of the people.
“One of the importance is that it will also give good template for postal office to apply and adopt a good address system.
“We realised that this activities have to be accepted before, during and after and we aim at reaching out to rural areas and the people at Large.
A lot of factors and challenges have been affecting the county and we can get it right through gathering and use of adequate Data. The media and census should partner to get it right through accurate Data gathering. ”
Prince Iyantan who noted that the NPC had started preparations many years ago, said Census 2023 will be digitally based.
He said “it is going to be the country’s first digital census because all stages of the census process is digitalized and electronically driven and making use of paper and paper based entry and recording has been completely eliminated.
Iyantan said, “The era of counting people without seeing them is gone. If you don’t make yourself available, you can’t be counted.
Even if you leave your house for another person’s house, we will not count you. People should get this information correct and understand the innovation on this forthcoming exercise.
In a remark, the chairman,NUJ in Ondo state, Prince Leke Adegbite who stressed the importance of Census gave an assurance that journalists in the state would discharge their duties professionally and intensify efforts towards projecting the census exercise.
During the workshop, papers delivered by guest lecturers included, Enumeration Area Demarcation for the
2023 Population and Housing Census, Processes and Methodology for the 2023 population and Housing Census, Technological Innovation in the 2023 Population and Housing Census.
Others included History of Population Censuses in Nigeria and structure and mandate ot the national population census and How to generate media contents on the 2023 Population and Housing Census.