A House of Reps member-elect, Chief Philip Agbese, has called on President Muhammadu Buhari to sack the leadership of the National Population Commission (NPC) over gross incompetence.
Agbese said the Nasir Isa Kwarra Commission has already shown to be incapable of achieving the mandate given by the Federal Government.
The member-elect representing Ado/ Okpokwu/ Ogbadibo federal constituency of Benue State spoke to newsmen on Friday following the postponement of the training for enumerators and supervisors.
Recall that the NPC had earlier postponed the census earlier billed for March 29 to between May 3 and May 5.
And Agbese said the Commission has not done enough in terms of training,
publicity, security, and logistics to guarantee a successful census.
According to him, the NPC is ill-prepared for the task despite the Federal Executive Council (FEC) recently approving N2.8 billion for it to procure software for the exercise.
He said there are no signs that the Commission will commence building numbering and household listing proposed for April 17 not to talk about the census.
He said: “The 2020 World Population and Housing Census Programme was approved by the Statistical Commission at its 46th session and adopted by the United Nations Economic and Social Council in resolution E/RES/2015/10.
“The Programme recognizes population and housing censuses as one of the primary sources of data needed for formulating, implementing, and monitoring policies and programs aimed at inclusive socioeconomic development and environmental sustainability.
“Data from the census are critical for good governance, policy formulation, development planning, crisis prevention, mitigation and response, social welfare programs, and business market analyses.
“However, this exercise is among the most complex and massive peacetime a nation can undertake. It requires careful planning, resourcing, and implementation – from mapping an entire country, mobilizing and training large numbers of enumerators, and conducting major public awareness campaigns, to canvassing all households, carefully monitoring census activities, and analyzing, disseminating, and using the resulting data.
“The NPC is not ready from the look of things. They have failed to conduct ordinary training personnel. While I welcome the use of high-end technology, there has really been no explanation on how it will be deployed.
“If we must get it right, then the current leadership of the NPC must make way for a more vibrant, robust, and digitally savvy team. We can’t be ridiculed in the eyes of the world”.
