2023 Census: There’ll Be No Collection Of Information About Religion, Ethnicity
There will be no collection of information about religion and ethnicity during the upcoming census, the National Population Commission , NPC, has clarified.
Team@orientactualmags.com learned the commission made this clarification on Friday during an advocacy visit to the Nigerian Television Authority, NTA, Kano by members of the National Publicity Committee, 2023 Population and Housing Census .
The delegation was led by the Minister of Information and Culture, Alhaji Lai Mohammed, who was represented by the Director General of the National Orientation Agency, Dr Garba Abari.
Alhaji Lai Muhammed is the Chairman of the committee.
Making clarifications on the speculations that Nigerians would be asked to provide information with regard to their faith and ethnic affiliation, a member of the committee, Dr Isiaka Yahaya, said the commission ‘is not interested in such an information’.
Yahaya, who is also the commission’s Director of Public Affairs, noted that issues of religion and ethnicity being peddled on social media were mere distractions.
‘Since 1991 when the National Population Commission has been conducting census, we have never collected information about ethnicity and religion.
We didn’t do it in 1991, we didn’t do it in 2006 and we won’t do it now.
The reason is obvious. The two issues are very sensitive and have the capacity to divert attention from the main issue of the census’ he said.
Director General of the Voice of Nigeria, Mr Osita Okechukwu, also urged Nigerians not to see the census as a contest among ethnic groups.
He said the census was only for planning purposes and not to confer advantage on any group.
‘ For planning purposes, President Muhammadu Buhari said before he leaves office, he wants to deploy digital technology to conduct a headcount.
The incoming president, Asiwaju Bola Ahmed, in planning with our resources, will know exactly how many Nigerians he is planning for’ Okechukwu said.
Also speaking, Abari commended the NTA management team for playing a critical role in raising awareness in respect of the upcoming census.
He reiterated that the headcount was solely to obtain data for national development purposes and urged the media to help tackle the twin scourge of fake news and misinformation.
The General Manager of NTA Kano, Sani Yusuf, also expressed the readiness of NTA to support the awareness campaign on census.
The delegation also visited Pyramid FM, Kano, Radio Kano and Triumph newspaper- Team@orientactualmags.com
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