By Vincent Ujumadu

THE Governor of Anambra State, Professor Chukwuma Soludo has described availability of accurate data and statistics as key for effective planning and development.

The governor, who spoke when the chairman of the National Population Commission, NPC, Mr. Isa Kwaara led a delegation of the Commission to his office in Awka, observed that without data, planning becomes difficult.

The governor said: “Statistics is everything, and remains the basic requirement for effective planning for development  If you can’t measure it, you can’t change it! Without data, you can’t plan.

“Full population demographics is imperative and not just stating the total number of a location, especially for a unique state like Anambra, which is estimated to have over 50% of its indigenous population living outside of the state.

“The transit population of Ndi Anambra is more than those domiciled in the state. The 50% population is just an estimate.

“We need concrete numbers to plan for the surging population that will arrive the state during the festive period and also plan for traffic control, and for several other social sectors, etc.

“To plan for tomorrow, we need to plan not just for only residents of Anambra State, but also Ndi Anambra living outside of the state; basic data for age population, education, qualification, residential address, persons living with disability, income level, household survey, among others, are basic requisite for planning. Regrettably, such basic data needed to disaggregate are unavailable.

“It would be delightful if the National Population Census can provide the total number of Ndi Anambra living in the 35 states of the Federation so that we can plan for basic infrastructure.

“We are therefore committed to supporting the next population census exercise so as to ensure it is  successful with a less error margin”.

He assured the Commission of maximum security and provision of basic logistics in terms of sensitisation, mobilization, personal and professional assistance during the exercise.

In his speech, the chairman of the Commission, Hon Kwarra, pleaded with Governor Soludo to uphold Anambra State as the light of the nation. He reeled out efforts made so far by the Commission as it prepares for the national count.

He said the visit became imperative to solicit the state government’s support for the digital housing and National Population Housing Census exercise billed for April, 2023.

Kwarra stated: “We have commenced pre-test trial census exercise using Idemili South LGA.

“The specific objectives will be to assess the quality of the enumeration area maps that had been created, determine demographic and geographical changes that might have occurred and their implications, determine feasibility for house numbering, determine correlation between estimated population and pre-test enumerated population.

“The exercise will also determine educational qualification for 2023 census enumerators, determine estimated workload on enumerators and finally, determine logistics support required from states and local government areas”.