On the 8th of September, UNFPA Nigeria joined the National Population Commission (NPC) in welcoming a variety of partners for a breakfast meeting focused on the 2023 Population and Housing Census. The meeting provided information on the progress made concerning preparations for the 2023 Population and Housing Census process. It also covered the resources gap in conducting a credible Census.
Through presentations, partners learned and discussed modalities for managing census resources from development partners and seeking support for conducting it.
With the robust attendance of partners, the Breakfast meeting was a clear indication of the commitment and willingness to ensure a credible and transformative census scheduled to take place in April next year.
For UNFPA Nigeria, it is reassuring to see that many partners went to the meeting showing the importance to all of them regarding the 2023 census and the willingness to commit to the process to ensure Nigeria has a credible and transformative census in April next year. The goal of the meeting was to broaden national and international technical, financial and material support for the successful conduct of the census. It also served as an opportunity to inaugurate the Census Development Partners Forum.
Representing the United Nations Resident and Humanitarian Coordinator in Nigeria, the UNFPA Resident Representative, Ms Ulla Mueller stated, "I urge all partners, including those present, to take this initiative seriously and to ensure that they are part of the partnership and cooperation by providing support whether technical, financial, or in-kind contributions".
Nigeria needs data available for evidence-based programming and policy, improved understanding of population dynamics, and socioeconomic development of the country by the international community to achieve the SDGs.
The role of UNFPA Nigeria
Since 2014, UNFPA has been working with National Population Commission to ensure that the 2023 census upholds international principles and standards from the start when the census began planning in 2014.
In addition, UNFPA has engaged a Chief Technical Adviser census embedded in NPC and deployment of other senior staff to offer technical support to the entire census process. Furthermore, the development of an M&E framework and communication and the structure for identifying and mapping the special population – migrant farmers, nomads, IDPs, and refugees- leaving no one behind.
On behalf of UNFPA Resident representative, Head of the UNFPA Nigeria Population and Development unit, Mr. Dashe Dasagot, also took the opportunity to express that "To monitor progress while implementing the 2030 SDGs, we need to have a clear picture of people, how many [there are], their ages, sex, socioeconomic, family sizes; this is what the census can and must achieve".
