NPC urges citizens to support enumeration exercise

By Nancy Adanu
The Federal Commissioner, National Population Commission, Benue State office, Barrister Patricia Kuchi, has appealed to the people of Agatu Local Government Area of Benue State to support the commission in carrying out the Enumeration Area Demarcation exercise of their area.
Barrister Kuchi made the appeal during an advocacy and sensitization campaign to the community, traditional and religious leaders as well as other stakeholders in the local government area last Monday.
The Federal Commissioner stated that the enumeration area demarcation is not the actual census but constitutes, the foundation on which the entire census architecture stands and forms the basis of both planning and execution of the projects.
The “EAD is a vehicle that drives the entire process in pre-census actual enumeration and post census period”, she stated.
She mentioned that EAD involves the division of the whole landmass of the country into small units that can easily be covered by a team of enumerators during the census stressing further the importance of the registration of births and deaths, and charged parents, traditional rulers and the general public in the area to make sure that all new births are registered with the commission.
The commissioner also taxed the local government chairman, Suleman Adoyi to provide an office accommodation for the National Population Commission at the Local Government Secretariat as part of the advocacy that Benue State NPC is updated and that, the President Muhammadu Buhari might make a presidential proclamation on the actual census any moment from now.
She therefore urged Agatu and Benue people in general to seriously handle the EAD exercise with high sense of duty to their local government and State at large, explaining further that, the commission has continued to deploy sophisticated technology in carrying out the EAD in addition to the methodology for the demarcation is designed to achieve full geographic information system, compliance, high resolution satellite imagery which cover the entire country and it is used to ensure that no area is left undemarcated and no place duplicated. The commissioner assured them that over seventy functionaries will be on ground for the exercise that is expected to last for one month running concurrently in Agatu and Apa Local Government Areas.
Responding, the District head of Enugba, Chief Jerry Ochola who was represented by the Ad’Agatu, Chief Godwin Onah, assured NPC of maximum support and cooperation for the success of the EAD exercise in the area.
The monarch urged the people of Agatu to see the exercise as an instrument of development and promised to take the enumerators to all nook and crannies of Agatu so that no part of the area will be left out.
The Agatu Local Government boss, on his part promised to provide adequate security and logistic for the smooth running of the exercise.