The National Population Commission (NPC) has trained its staff and that of the National Orientation Agency (NOA) in a one-day capacity building ahead of the April 2023 census, in Jos on Tuesday.

The NPC federal commissioner, Plateau state, Mrs Cecilia Dapoet, said the workshop was to train its staff and NOA officials on the effective ways to conduct, sensitise and publicise the forthcoming 2023 population and housing census.

Dapoet was represented by the state director, NPC, Mr Pam Deme, at the workshop.

She said it had become imperative to begin the advocacy and publicity campaign in order to properly educate and enlighten Nigerians on the need to support the successful conduct of the census.

“This capacity building workshop for our staff and that of the NOA is very important because we cannot achieve this very big task alone.

“This training will equip our staff on how to effectively carry out their jobs and also for the NOA to be fully equipped to be able to properly enlighten the public.

“It also underscores the determination of the commission to effectively mobilise Nigerians for the 2023 census.

“We want to leverage the grassroots reach of the NOA and collaborate with them in areas where they have comparative advantages such as in community engagements.

“Others are field sensitisation campaigns, engagements with traditional institutions among others,” he said.

Deme urged the participants to put in what they have learned to ensure the success of the 2023 census and forge the much-needed national consensus it was meant to achieve.

The Director General, NOA, Dr Garba Abari, while stressing the need for Nigeria to have a credible census for proper planning for the development of the country, said that the NOA was ready to enlighten Nigerians.

Abari, represented by Mr Williams Dogo, Deputy Director, Legal services, who described the census as the biggest exercise in the country, lauded the NPC for holding its first digitalised census in the country.

A participant, Mrs Rhoda Sadus, Assistant Director, NOA, in charge of Jos North, said that the workshop had prepared her to mobilise people in the grassroots preparatory to the census.