By Blessing Uchendu
The National Population Commission, NPC, has announced the commencement of field work for the first pre-test for population and housing census in Anambra State.
The Chairman, National Population Commission, Honourable Nasir Isa Kwarra, made the announcement today in Awka while briefing the press on the commission’s preparations for the exercise.
According to Mr Kwarra, who spoke through the Federal Commissioner of the commission in Anambra State, Mr Chidi Ezeoke, in order to effectively enumerate all Nigerians within a reasonable period, it is imperative to divide the whole land mass of the country into small units that can easily by covered by a team of enumerators during census enumeration.
He said the that the conduct of the pre-test was aimed at testing the census methodology, the questionnaire and data collection methods, the manuals for the field staff, instruction manuals, data editing and coding, data processing and tabulation in preparation for the actual census.
The NPC Chairman added that in the pre-test exercise, some selected Enumeration Areas (EAs) in some of the Local Government Areas in states of the country demarcated between 2016 – 2018 would be untilized and census instruments will be sent to these areas to test-run their suitability and readiness for the main exercise.
The local government areas in Anambra State where the pre-test exercise would be conducted include Awka South, Ekwusigo and Dunukofia, with involving towns under them to include Okpuno, Awka, Ichi, Ozubulu, Ukwulu and Ifitedunu.
He also stated that the objective of the exercise was to assess the quality of Enumerations Area maps already created, understand the demographic and geographic changes that occured in the Enumeration Areas in 2016 – 2018 and how their implications census enumeration, and to assess the educational and other qualifications of potential census enumarators as well as logistical support from both the states and LGAs.
While cautioning that the pre-test is not the actual census but a mirror which the commission would look at its readiness for the main exercise, Mr Kwarra appealed to respondents from the selected local government areas and EAs to give maximum support to the interviewers and answer all questions truthfully, assuring that all information tendered would be treated with utmost confidentiality.
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