The National Population Commission (NPC) Abia State office has passionately appealed to the Indigenous Peoples of Biafra (IPOB) to sheath its sword and allow the 2023 census to be conducted uninterrupted in the Southeast geopolitical zone.

The Federal Commissioner of NPC in charge of Abia State, Chief Johnny Nwabuisi who made the appeal in Umuahia on Thursday during a stakeholders’ summit for the 2023 national census, argued that the earlier stance by the separatist body that no census should be held in the Southeast and some parts of South-south will negate the plan by the commission to conduct an accurate and untainted census figure in the Southeast.

He recalled that the group by its activities literarily frustrated the proper headcount in the Southeast during the national census of 2006 and wondered how the referendum the group is demanding from the United Nations will materialise if there is no available data to conduct the referendum.

“If any referendum is agreed on, the UN will still collect the necessary population data from the government to conduct the exercise. It won’t be conducted on air or based on assumptions. There must be a need to your population before a referendum is agreed on. So parents and wards including traditional rulers, wives and husbands who know where these people are should advise them to allow this exercise to go on peacefully and without interruption,” he pleaded.

In his speech, Governor Okezie Ikpeazu described accurate census figures as the sine qua non to national cohesion, saying that for a nation to plan for enhanced development, it must have an accurate census figure of its population.

The Abia governor represented by his Chief of Staff, Chief Okey Ahaiwe disclosed that state government takes it as a top priority the provision of adequate data for the 2023 national census exercise.

According to the governor, over the years Nigeria’s headcount has been immersed in controversy, prompting every national census to be disputed upon by some sections of the country, while others believe it is accurate.

He, therefore, cautioned the National Population Commission against manipulating the exercise, but to ensure that next year’s headcount is done without bias.

In their separate comments at the event, the Chairman, Abia State Traditional Rulers Council, HRM Eze Ndubuisi Nwabeke and Abia State Director, National Orientation Agency (NOA), Mrs Ngozi Okechukwu commended the decision to organize the exercise, saying that it will give Abia State another opportunity to be to properly counted and have an accurate census figure.

Other stakeholders that spoke at the event included: the Nigeria Labour Congress (NLC), Trade Union Congress (TUC), National Council of Women Societies (NCWS), Nigeria Union of Journalists (NUJ), Christian Association of Nigeria (CAN), etc which also appealed to IPOB to encourage the exercise in 2023 and allow it to succeed in Abia so that the state will record its proper population figure of over 10 million inhabitants. (Daily Independent)

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