By Chinwe Imo-Eze Onwosi
Ahead the 2023 National Population and Housing Census across Nigeria, the National Population Commission (NPC) has inaugurated a publicity committee in Ebonyi.
The Ebonyi State Federal commissioner of the Commission, Darlington Okereke, told newsmen in Abakaliki, the state capital that the inaugurated publicity committee made up of stakeholders from the state Ministry of Information, Nigeria Union of Journalists (NUJ), amongst others will create more awareness and inform Ebonyians on the need for credible and acceptable strategies towards a successful census.
Okereke noted that the target of the 2023 census is to produce accurate, reliable and acceptable census data adding that it would create an inclusive data that would be used by all segments of the society for development planning and critical programme interventions.
According to him, “In all of these, the need for advocacy publicity and public enlightenment cannot be over emphasised.
“As such, targeted advocacy and sustainable publicity is no doubt imperative to the successful conduct of census exercise,” he stated.
Earlier in his remark, the State Commissioner for Information and State Orientation, Uchenna Orji, commended the Commission and described the census exercise as ‘key” to national development.
Orji noted that the state was committed to ensuring a successful head count and urged all hands to be on deck.
He charged the committee to work hard in sensitisation of the public, especially at the grassroots level by using the language that the people could easily understand.
Similarly, Mrs Julia Manyike, the state Director of NPC, said the composition of the publicity committee was to build and sustain broad based state and grassroots orientation partnership for the effective mobilisation of the citizens
