The Federal Government of Nigeria is ready to conduct its first ever digital census, 17 years after last exercise in 2006 with an approval of N2.8 billion ($5.4 million).
The exercise, originally scheduled for March 29 but postponed to May 2023 due to the rescheduled gubernatorial and state House of Assembly elections, is now scheduled to take place between 29 March and 2 April across the country’s 774 local government areas.
The fund will be used to procure software for the National Population Commission to carry out the census digitally using mobile handheld devices, geographic information systems, and satellite imagery.
Nigeria’s Minister of State for Budget and National Planning, Clem Agba, provided a breakdown, stating that ₦626 billion will be for the census at $6 per capita, while ₦243 billion will be for post-census activities until 2025.
The National Population Commission recently inspected and took delivery of 100,000 Personal Digital Assistant devices for the 2023 population and housing census.
The chairman of the commission, Nasir Kwarra said there is robust geospatial data, which with the conduct of a digital Census would aid planning in all aspects of national development and gave assurance that the census will be conducted digitally and error-free.
