By Praise Chinecherem
Anambra State Governor, Prof. Chukwuma Soludo has appealed to people of the State to take advantage of the 2023 housing and population census to ensure accurate population of the State was captured for proper planning and development.
He warned those who distrupted the last exercise to have a change of heart, regretting the consequences such actions had on the state.
Soludo spoke on Tuesday at a stakeholders’ summit on 2023 Population and Housing Census, themed, “Getting The People Involved” organized by the National Population Commission (NPC) in conjunction with the state government.
He said, “The 2023 census must not be another opportunity to miss. We must take advantage of this opportunity, especially now it’s going to be digital so we can accurately count our people.
“For those who distrupted the last census, saying our people should not be counted, such action cost our people dearly, especially when considered that population is one of the criteria for sharing national resources.
“For this census, I’m asking them, especially those in the bush, road and market, we must now be wise, our people must step out and be counted. We must shine our eyes. Once bitten twice shy.”
The governor solicited cooperation of communities, town unions, traditional and religious leaders as well as women groups in mobilizing their people to ensure successful head count, just as he urged the NPC to accord the project all the seriousness it deserved.
“I want our people to take it very serious because going forward, we must be citing development relative to number of persons that need it. We have to know how many people we’re planning for.
“NPC has a big job to do. You’ve promised to give us digital, credible, reliable and acceptable results; We need to know the number of people to plan for so we can avoid throwing up all sorts of number and other unforseen crisis,” he stressed.
The traditional ruler of Onitsha, Igwe Alfred Achebe raised three challenges of porous borders, movement of persons during the exercise, as well as accommodation, feeding and transport for personnel, urging the commission to correct the anomalies ahead of the exercise.
Earlier, NPC Federal Commissioner representing the State, Mr. Chidi Ezeoke said the stakeholders’ summit was targeted at broadening the support base for successful conduct of the census.
“The specific objectives include awareness creation on the conduct of the exercise, including imperatives, methodology and timelines; promotion of robust and informed conversation on process and procedures, among others,” he noted.
Among the stakeholders that attended the event were traditional and religious leaders, Presidents General, Anambra State Association of Town Union, heads of government agencies and establishments, and others.
