By ABUBAKAR YUSUF.
Just like yesterday,the appointment of Alhaji Nasir Isa Kwarra as the Executive Chairman, National Population Commission NPC is one eventful year on,along with his commissioners charged with the mandate to produce accurate data of Nigeria’s population by Nigeria President, Muhammadu Buhari when he was sworn in October 2020.
His current occupation of the highly exalted seat is coming at a time when the growing clamour for accurate and reliable population data of Nigeria has reached the crescendo,fifteen years down the line since 2006,making the current population statistics highly unreliable and capable of creating social and economic crises.
Conscious of this uphill task, Kwarra quickly settled down to right all the over one decade wrongs,so as to put Nigeria on the path of both social,economic and political emancipation,since population remained the veritable ingredients used in the determination of resource allocations, infrastructure,and other critical national developement.
Also coming at a time Nigeria is trailing behind other nations in the template of routine population census pegged at once in every ten years,to guarantee social equality,economic and health security of Nigeria state.
The new NPC without hesitation created an enabling environment by carrying out internal cleansing and major reorganisation to prepare the minds of staffers ahead of the major task to deliver,aside repositioning the many decades organisation.
With the wealth of experience as an astute adminstrator,a technocrat of many years of bureacratic experience,Kwarra left no one in doubt as one year down the line,the reforms had become a major achievements of the new leadership,with ability of the staffers ready to deliver on the mandate of the commision.
Without hesitation,he set the ball rolling by preparing through proactive decisions towards the next nationwide population head count scheduled to hold in 2022.
This required alot of preparation both on the part of staffers and the prerequisites that will ensure smooth and successful population census billed for next year.
Since the 2022 population census will be crucial to the 2023 general elections,capable of determining the strength, population and demography of areas across the country,the need for a thorough exercise is sancrosanct.
Aside staffs orientation and reorientation,the need to bring on board through training and retraining of members of staffs with computer literacy and technolgical experiences became germane,hence the new leadership set in motion the proces of computer education and awareness, particularly with the new age of computer literacy,a departure from the previous order of analogue age.
To make real the 2022 population census exercise,the current commision had completed on Enumeration and Area Demarcation EAD exercise across the country within few months on assumption of duty, setting the ball rolling for the next year exercise holding unfailingly.
Determined to achieve results within the shortest possible time,Alhaji Nasir Isa Kwarra embarked on putting in place more incentives to encourage staffers through payment of backlog of arears and claims,to the costernation of the beneficiaries.
All These had encouraged members of staffs to key into the transformation agenda of the current leadership under the chairmanship of Alhaji Nasir Isa Kwarra in his quest to improve on the current strides of the commision.
Priority was also giving to registeration of both Deaths and Births,to streamline accurate data of births and numbers of deaths in Nigeria for accurate records.
This is in addition to ongoing renovation, rehabilitation of it’s headquarters,offices across the states,local government areas in the country, to make it a befitting edifice both for staffs and visitors who daily thronged the offices for various inquiries.
With these sterling qualities and achievements within the short period,there is no doubt that the current commision is determined to completely turn around the hub of population information in Nigeria in the nearest future.
Written By Abubakar Yusuf, and can be reached on yus.abubakar3@gmail.com.