Gov. Abdullahi Ganduje of Kano State says population data is essential to development planning and any government desirous of achieving developmental strides needs to know the number of people requiring certain amenities.
Ganduje stated this while addressing a Stakeholders’ Meeting on the 2023 population and housing census with the theme: “2023 Census-Getting People Involved” held at the Government House Kano.
Represented by his deputy, Alhaji Nasiru Gawuna, Ganduje said population is a critical factor in nation-building and attaining sustainable development.
“The people are both the agents and beneficiaries of the development process, therefore knowledge of the national population in terms of size, distribution, and socioeconomic characteristics is required for planning purposes making the conduct of census one of the essential governance activities.
“We are delighted that the deployment of state-of-the-art technology by the Commission to ensure the conduct of the first fully digital census in Nigeria will enhance the data quality,” he said.
He said the Kano state government requires new data to drive the implementation of the recently launched revised National Policy on Population for sustainable development and other government policies in all human endeavors.
According to him, Kano has the conviction that the National Population Commission (NPC) has the capacity and is ready to deliver to the country a reliable, credible, and acceptable census comes 2023.
Ganduje assured the commission of the state government’s support and commitment to ensuring that the 2023 census exercise was successful and conducted for the benefit of all.
The Federal Commissioner NPC, Kano, Alhaji Ismail Lawal -Sulaiman said that the goal of the census was to conduct acceptable and credible exercises that would be transformational and meet the international standard.
“The need for engagement with the stakeholders to get their feedback on the instruments and to enrich the process.
In attendance were Members of the Kano State Executive Council, traditional rulers, women and youth groups, development partners, and civil society organizations.
The News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) reports that according to the Kano state official website as of 2020, the Kano state population is estimated currently at 20 million people.
