By REMI KOLEOSO

The National Population Commission (NPC) says it will engage two million Nigerians to perform the 2023 census.

Mr Ayodeji Ajayi, the Federal Commissioner, representing Ekiti in NPC, disclosed this in Ado Ekiti on Thursday at a news conference to update the public on the proposed recruitment of ad-hoc staff for the exercise.

Ajayi warned that any of the recruited staff found wanting before, during and after the exercise compromising the process would be held accountable alongside his guarantors.

To make the recruitment gender sensitive, the Federal Government’s agency revealed that the NPC in Ekiti State would recruit a minimum of 40 per cent women as ad-hoc staff to prosecute the exercise.

Ajayi, a former Ekiti State Head of Service, said: “The commission will recruit ad-hoc staff in the neighborhood of two million across the country for this exercise, this includes staff of NPC and the ad-hoc staff that will be trained and other professionals.

“And any job-seeking youth, who participates in the exercise and performs well will be given certificate by the commission to enhance his employability.”

He stated that the commission was targeting mainly workers in the state and federal civil services, as well as interested Nigerians, with proven integrity as ad-hoc staff, urging interested members to express their interests via 2023censusadhocrecruitment.nationalpopulation.gov.ng.

Ajayi added that the NPC had taken proactive measures to prevent the exercise from being hijacked by unscrupulous elements, through ICT innovations that can safeguard the integrity of the national headcount.

“Every enumeration area has been geo-coded that no staff can overlap. You can’t cross to other enumeration side to work with your gadgets.

“The time frame for you to work is also short that you can’t spend the entire day in a locality counting and once the button is pressed after counting, it is delivered in our Central Server.

“What had given rise to manipulation in the past is that papers were used, but we are using ICT gadgets. We have about 99 per cent assurance that manipulation will be curtailed.

“Each staff will have a guarantor and if you do anything wrong, the guarantors will be held responsible.

“To us in the commission, the quality of staff that will perform the census activities is very important.

“Therefore having good knowledge of the content document, the technique and the organization of the census process is key to the success of the 2023 population and housing census.

“The President said he will leave a legacy of giving Nigeria workable population census and he is working the talk. He had instructed all security and government agencies that they should cooperate with us.

“While a good recruitment exercise will not by itself necessarily guarantee a successful census, a badly conducted recruitment process will inevitably lead to problems and increase the risk of unsuccessful census.

“The launching of the E-recruitment portal for the 2023 census marks the beginning of the online recruitment process, whereby Nigerians from all demography and gender can hook onto the website that will be provided by the commission, to fill the online form and get themselves registered to be recruited.

“Teachers in primary, secondary and tertiary institutions are our primary target. Though, we have been using some lecturers in the university as professionals, but we need more, particularly specialists in Sociology, Statistics, Geography and Demography. University students, employed people, job seekers and those that are ICT compliant can also apply”.

He said the Commission had, during the Enumeration Area Demarcation (EAD), done a preliminary census about the number of inhabitants in every home, saying that any alteration to the data will be challenged during the main census. (NAN)

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