2023 census will be digital- NOA

The 2023 National Population and Housing Census will be conducted digitally to ensure credibility and efficiency, Dr Garba Abari, the Director-General, National Orientation Agency (NOA), says.

He made this known when he featured on the News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) Forum in Abuja on Sunday.

Abari, who is a member of the National Publicity and Advocacy Committee on Census, said the exercise would be facilitated by the use of digital technology, contrary to previous census conducted in the country.

He said ‘’this is one census that is going to be different from previous ones. To enhance the credibility of the exercise, this census is going to be digital.

‘’In the house listing and numbering, the National Population Commission (NPC) has perfected the space and got the point much beyond what google has done in the mapping.

‘’In terms of specificity and the correctness of the capture of every house and hamlet in Nigeria, NPC has gone far beyond what google had done.

‘’We may not say that we are absolutely 100 per cent correct, but 99 per cent of all houses, structures within the enclave of Nigeria’s territory had been captured digitally, far beyond what google can provide in terms of specificity.’’

The NOA boss explained that the digitalisation of the exercise would enhance credibility, ensure accurate data and respond to modern technology, in line with global practice.

He said ‘’digitalisation will enhance the credibility because there is a common template for the exercise and that is all will be sent to the cloud.

‘’In our previous census exercises, we allowed perhaps owning to lack of sufficient knowledge about what the entire exercise is about.

‘’It was looked at from the prism of one region is larger than the other; one state is bigger than another, one local government is bigger than another, one senatorial district is bigger than another.

‘’And in the process, you miss out the most important element of the programme, which is getting sufficient data for planning.

“But the 2023 census is going to be a scientific census; a digital census that responds to the reality of today, responds to the information and technological revolution; it is a census that is aimed at bringing in credible, acceptable, open and transparent force,’’ he said. (NAN)

Guber polls: PDP women wing protest APC winning in Kaduna

From:

Femi Oyelola, Kaduna

The women wing of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) in Kaduna State has expressed displeasure over the governorship election result announced by the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC).

INEC had declared Senator Uba Sani of the All Progressives Congress (APC) winner of the election.

The women, who staged a peaceful protest to Nigeria Union of Journalists (NUJ) Secretariat on Thursday to register their displeasure, displayed various placards.

Some of the placards read: “A stolen Mandate is Not Acceptable”, “Give Us Who We Voted For”, “No to election rigging”, “Kaduna State has spoken”, “Give us who we voted”, “Kaduna people elected, INEC selected”, “No to Result Manipulation”.

Addressing newsmen in Kaduna, Aisha Maidana

Ibrahim, former Kaduna State women leader and PDP women leader northwest zone, and Maria Dogo, former House of Assembly member representing Chikun constituency and former Commissioner, women affairs, said, “The people of Kaduna State came out Saturday, March 18 to massively voted for Isa Ashiru, the PDP gubernatorial candidate. Everybody heard the result and wondered why INEC should change the result in favour of the APC candidate.”

Ibrahim accused INEC of stealing the mandate of the people of Kaduna State and giving it to the APC, alleging that various results were reduced in most local government areas.

She explained that INEC should be free, fair and objective in dealing with Nigerians to give them what they voted for.

According to Maria Dogo, “INEC should refer it to the server to get the correct result of the election from every polling unit to avoid any controversy.”