Courtesy Call on NPC Chairman by UNFPA Resident Representative
In continuation of her engagements with high-level government officials, Ms. Gifty Addico, UNFPA Nigeria Resident Representative met with the Chairman of the National Population Commission, Alhaji Nasir Isa Kwarra at 3.00 pm on Friday 14th October 2023. In attendance were Federal Commissioners, Director-General, and senior staff of the Commission. Dr. Gifty thanked the Chairman and members of the Commission for the warm reception and appreciated the relationship between NPC and UNFPA. She stated that the purpose of the visit was to understand the new plans of the Commission for the 2020 round of population and housing census and how to revise the roadmap for the exercise.
In his remarks, Alhaji Nasir Isa Kwarra welcomed the resident Representative to Nigeria and reiterated the need to conduct a census in Nigeria. He informed the Representative that the NPC has submitted a revised roadmap and budget for the census to the New President sometime in July for the census to be conducted in March 2024. However, since the President has yet to communicate on the submission and due to the passage of time, NPC is planning to review the timelines and budget with assistance from UNFPA for the census to be conducted in either October or November 2024, which will be submitted to the President as a reminder. In the remainder, NPC will ask the President to make a proclamation on the date of the census to enhance resource mobilization from donors and development partners. He acknowledged the support of UNFPA towards the 2023 Census including the Chief Technical Adviser on Census and urged UNFPA to “Be strong and get into Government and speak with a loud voice that we need the census”.
The Chairman requested technical support to strengthen the capacity of NPC for digital civil registration and vital statistics, which will be launched by the President soon. He also requested for support around population management and publicity for the upcoming census.
