National Population Commission of Nigeria
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- What is Population Census?
- Why is a Census Necessary?
- Why Census 2006?
- What will 2006 Census tell us?
- How will 2006 Census benefit Nigerian Education?
- How will 2006 Census improves the health sector in Nigeria?
- How will 2006 Census increases employment in Nigeria?
- What is Gender Empowerment?
- How will 2006 Census assess Development Programmes?
- Will 2006 Census promote our Foreign Policy?
- Does the Private Sector really need Census?
- How will this 2006 Census benefit our Housing Scheme?
- What are the Pre - Census 2006 Activities?
- What are the methods of Enumeration?
- What questions will be asked?
- Why Housing Census?
- How will our information be treated?
- What are the Census Offences?
- When will Post Enumeration Survey take place?
- Do we have any role to play in this 2006 Census?
- When will Census 2006 take place?
A population census is the counting of all the people living in a country at particular time. A census is the photograph of the population conditions of a country at the census moment expressible in number. Census collects and collates information on the size, composition and characteristics of the population. Census is usually conducted periodically. While some countries conduct the census at five years interval others conduct it every ten years.
Information collected during a census is used to assess the current welfare needs of the population as well as to project future needs to assist planners to make realistic future development needs.
After four decades of independence, Nigeria is still striving to join the comity of developed nations. Sustainable development is the ultimate aim of governance in all societies because it brings prosperity and improve the welfare of the people thereby contributing to the stability of the polity.
However, the human population is the most important factor in the development process. The people work for the development of the country and they in turn benefit from the development.
Population census provides information on the people that are to benefit from the development and how their size and characteristics can be fully maximized for the development process thereby making it possible for all tiers of government to guide the process of positive change.
4. What will 2006 Census tell us?
• The number of persons in Nigeria
• The number of Males and Females
• The Age composition of the population
• The level of literacy
• The level of employment/unemployment and types of occupation
• And other information
5. How will 2006 Census benefit Nigerian Education?
Data from 2006 Census will assist government in determining levels of literacy and planning for education by providing
information on:
• The number of people who can read and write
• The level of education attained by those who have been to school
• The number of school age children presently not in school
6. How will 2006 Census improves the health sector in Nigeria ?
Health is wealth. A healthy nation is a happy nation. Diseases and ill health are anathema to the growth of the nation that also brings untold hardship to the individuals, and cost the nation a lot in curing the afflicted. Data from the 2006 Census will assist the governments at all levels in planning for the health of the people by providing information on:
• How many people are suffering from one disease or the other?
• What are the common ailments in the various age groups?
• Where are the health facilities and are they adequate or within reach of the people?
• Are the people taking advantage of modern health facilities?
• What is the level of disabilities and which age group is mostly afflicted?
7. How will 2006 Census increases employment in Nigeria ?
Adequate employment or the citizenry is one of the good indicators of development. Employment provides the individual with the means of livelihood and the opportunity to contribute to the economy of the nation. Employment also reduces the number of dependents on the working class and increases the savings and the investment capacity of the society. The rate of unemployment in Nigeria is high. Many of the school leavers are still searching or employment. The public sector which is the main employer of labour is saturated, and the private sector that should be the largest employer of labor is yet to play this vital role.
The 2006 Census will assist in establishing the levels of employment/unemployment for future planning and job creation by providing the following information:
• Number of employed persons and type of work
• Distribution of unemployed persons
• No of persons in schools that will require employment in due course?
• Who earns what for doing what?
8. What is Gender Empowerment?
The women and the girl child constitute an important and vulnerable segment of the population. Women are often marginalized and denied access to opportunities for educational, social and political fulfillment. For the country to realize its full potential there must be accurate data on the conditions of women. The 2006 Census will assist governments in formulating appropriate intervention strategies by providing information on:
• How many women and where are they?
• How many women are not educated, lack paid employment and access to health facilities?
• How many women marry early, and what is their fertility rate?
• How many women suffer from disabilities?
• How many women are bread winners of the families?
9. How will 2006 Census assess Development Programmes?
Nigeria has embarked on the implementation of many development strategies at the national and global levels. These include National Economic Empowerment Development Strategies (NEEDS) and State Economic Empowerment Development Strategies (SEEDS) at the national level and the Millennium Development Goals (MDG). These development initiatives set specific targets to be attained at specific time. The data from the 2006 Census will provide basis for evaluation of the various development programmes undertaken by the governments and NGOs.
10. Will 2006 Census promote our Foreign Policy?
Nigeria is a key player on the international scene. It enjoys immense goodwill and respect among the comity of nations and has been in the forefront of many foreign policy initiatives and maintaining good bilateral relations. The 2006 Census will help the federal government in promoting our foreign policy objectives by providing information on:
• How many people living in Nigeria are foreigners?
• What is the nationality of the foreign population?
11. Does the Private Sector really need Census?
The private sector needs census data to plan production, marketing and make informed investment decisions in the country.
12. How will this 2006 Census benefit our Housing Scheme?
The 2006 Census data will assist the governments to come up with effective housing policies, as well as improve availability of houses and amenities, it is necessary to take stock of the current housing conditions and amenities such as electricity and water supply.
13. What are the Pre - Census 2006 Activities?
Population census is not a single event but rather a long chain of preparatory activities which culminates in the actual enumeration. All these activities pave way for the smooth conduct of accurate, reliable and acceptable census. For the 2006 population and housing census, the National Population Commission will carry out the following activities:
The conduct of census is a culmination of numerous preparatory activities. The following preparatory activities will precede the conduct of the 2006 Population and Housing Census:
• Enumeration Area Demarcation (EAD): This is the division of the entire country into small land areas that can be conveniently covered by a pair of enumerators during the census moment. EAD prevents cases of omission or overlap in the enumeration of persons.
• Design of census questionnaire and instruments
• Pretest and trial census
• Soliciting the support of government at all levels, political leaders, stakeholders, the media, traditional rulers, religious leaders community associations, donor agencies, professional bodies etc
• Educate the general populace on the 2006 Census
• Establishing logistic supports through the procurement of vehicles and other means of transportation
• Recruitment and training of field staff
• Data capture, processing and analysis: The data for the 2006 Census will be processed at the zonal data processing centres and the final processing will take place at the headquarters. To ensure speedy process of the data, the Optical Mark Reader (OMR) forms will be used. All the forms will be scanned
14. What are the methods of Enumeration?
• Only persons physically seen will be counted.
• Persons will be counted in their houses.
• All persons will be fingerprinted to ensure that nobody is counted twice.
15. What questions will be asked?
The enumerators will ask questions from the heads and members of households. The enumerators will ask the respondents the following questions:
• names,
• age,
• sex,
• relationship to head of household,
• nationality,
• state of origin,
• local government of origin,
• Ethnic group, religion,
• place of usual residence,
• duration of residence,
• previous residence,
• disability,
• literacy,
• schooling status,
• education,
• marital status,
• work status,
• occupation,
The following questions will be asked about the houses:
• Type of living house
• Type of housing units
• Usual language of household
• Gross annual income of households
• Number of sleeping rooms
• Main construction materials used for the floors and the roofing
• Tenure status (rented, owned,
• Main source of water supply
• Toilets facilities
• Cooking fuel
• Energy for lighting (Electricity, gas, kerosene, solar, candle and others)
• Methods of waste disposal
• Household facilities (Radio, Television, phone, computer, car, boat or canoe, gas cooker, mobile phone, donkey horses and camel, motorcycle, bus, generating sets)
•Access to telephone.
17. How will our information be treated?
• All information given to enumerators will be treated with utmost confidentiality.
. Enumerators who breach this confidentiality will be punishable by law.
18. What are the Census Offences?
• To refuse to be counted
• To be counted more than once
• To give false information to the enumerator
• To obstruct the enumerator in the discharge of his/her duties
19. When will Post Enumeration Survey take place?
A Post Enumeration Survey will be conducted few weeks after the census proper. The PES will ask more detailed questions on the characteristics of the population.
20. Do we have any role to play in this 2006 Census?
As a patriotic Nigerian, you should be;
• Creating general awareness on the conduct of the 2006 Census among our communities, families and friends,
• Educating people on the methodologies to be adopted in the conduct of the 2006 Census and helping them to overcome prejudices,
• Being vanguard for the accuracy, reliability and acceptability of 2006 Census.
21. When will Census 2006 take place?
Though the actual conduct of the census is for three days the preparatory activities take much longer ranging between 18 months to 36 months. Preparations for the 2006 Census started since January 2004
The enumeration will take place in the dry season of 2006. The period is preferable because persistent rain could disrupt the counting of the people.