The Nigerian Army (NA) has pledged its support to the National Population Commission (NPC) in the forthcoming 2023 census.
The Chief of Army Staff (COAS), Lieutenant General Taoreed Lagbaja, made the pledge Thursday, 10 August 2023, at the Army headquarters, Abuja, on the occasion of a courtesy visit to him by the Board of Commissioners and Directors, led by the Chairman of the NPC, Nasir Isa Kwarra.
TheFact Daily recalls that in April, former minister of Information and Culture, Lai Mohammed had announced that the Federal Government has postponed the census. Yesterday, the Commission said it has put everything in place to conduct the 2023 population and housing census, and now awaits instructions from President Bola Tinubu to start the exercise, adding that the postponement has also given it the opportunity to further perfect its processes and systems for the conduct of the first-ever digital census.
The Army Chief assured that the support of the NA will be through the deployment of troops and adequate security to ensure the successful conduct of the exercise.
Nasir Kwarra, who felicitated with the Army Chief on his appointment, lauded the effort of the NA in tackling security challenges in the country, noting that the NA is a major stakeholder in the conduct of the forthcoming 2023 census, hence the need to acquaint the COAS with the progress in preparation for the forthcoming census.
While soliciting the collaboration of the military in security-related areas during the exercise, Kwarra described the NPC as a constitutional body saddled with statutory powers to collect, analyse and disseminate population and demographic data in the country.
The Chairman stated that the commission has laid the basic foundation by doing the enumeration and demarcation of the entire country into smaller units. He noted that the essence of the demarcation is to help in planning the human and material resources, which are to be deployed to particular areas for the census.
