Kano State Governor Dr Abdullahi Umar Ganduje 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 at a given time such as light,water,housing,health and education facilities.
The Governor stated this while addressing the state stakeholders summit on the 2023 population and housing census with the theme: “2023 Census – Getting People Involved” held at Government House Kano.
Represented by his deputy Dr.Nasiru Yusuf Gawuna, Dr. Ganduje said people are both the agents and beneficiaries of the development process.
Ganduje submitted that knowledge of national population in terms of size, distribution and socio economic characteristics is required for planning purposes, making the conduct of census one of the essential governance activities.
He noted that population is a critical factor in nation building and attaining sustainable development .
“We are delighted a 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”.
Governor Ganduje said his administration requires a 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 endeavour.
“in Kano we have the conviction that the National Population Commission has the capacity and is ready to deliver to the country a reliable,credible and acceptable census come 2023”
The Governor assured of his administration’s unflinching support and commitment in ensuring that the 2023 census exercise is successful and conducted for the benefit of all.
In his remark, the Federal Commissioner National Population Commission Kano Office, Dr.Ismail Lawal Sulaiman explained that the goal of the census taking is to conduct acceptable and credible exercise that will be transformational and meet the international standard, hence the need for engagement with the stakeholders to enrich the process.
Abdullahi Jalaludeen