By Peter Duru, Makurdi

The Federal Commissioner representing Benue State at the National Population Commission, NPC, Mrs. Patricia Kupchi says Nigeria needs to have legislation in place to guide timely conduct of census for the use of the verifiable data to guide policy decisions in the country.

Mrs. Kupchi stated this weekend in Makurdi during her media briefing to mark the 2024 World Population Day with the theme, “Embracing the Power of Inclusive Data Towards a Resilient and Equitable Future for All.”

Represented by the Benue NPC State Director, Mr. Christopher Nege, she regretted that lack of timely census in the country had left policy makers working with population data considered stale given the 18 long years the last population and housing census was conducted in the country.

According to her, “when individuals; group of persons and the government have access to timely, representative and comprehensive data, mostly sourced from censuses data not base on speculations, then can they be guided to take informed decisions and actions that will better their lives.

“For example, women having access to information and services that will enable them manage their fertility, will lead to reduced maternal death, improve child survival, facilitate population management to pave way for achieving demographic transition.

“Making our Civil Registration Systems functional will guarantee all births registered, irrespective of where or when the event occurred, leading to achieving SDG 16.9 – provide legal identity for all, including birth registration, by 2030.”

While harping on the importance of data and the deployment of modern tools and equipment to collate data, Mrs. Kupchi  noted that “to have the right information/evidence/data for measuring and predicting likely demographic shifts, we need to hold a census that will deploy modern technology to generate timely, reliable and acceptable data required for addressing the different needs of the various population groups and implement interventions that will create opportunities for progress and removes barriers that inhibits. This will guarantee individuals realizing their full potential.

“Hence, Nigeria needs to strengthen its data generating institutions; adequately fund periodic data collection that is inclusive and comprehensive; and most importantly provide legislative Acts to guide timely conduct of censuses as well as promote the use of these data to guide policy decisions.”

She pointed out that “inclusive and reliable data/evidence can enable ascertaining a peaceful and prosperous future, building of resilient systems and societies.”

The Federal Commissioner maintained that data collection and analysis tool should be deployed to facilitate good representation and use of data, stressing that “Nigeria should champion data collection that counts people in their diversity and in all their complexity.

“And our data collection exercise, particularly for the upcoming Population and Housing Census would be inclusive compliant, leaving no one behind.”

She stated that this had become imperative given the fact that Nigeria was among nations that “did not have sufficient, comprehensive and inclusive data to evaluate its performance, achievements nor challenges during the regional review of Addis Ababa Declaration on Population and Development AADPD+10 and for International Conference on Population and Development, ICPD, @30 Programme of Action, PoA, reporting during the 57th Session of the Commission on Population and Development, early this year.”

He maintained that the year’s theme “occasioned the evaluation of our data generating systems/institutions; our perceptions on issues of data and has raised a concern we should not Ignore, but collectively (government at all levels, individuals, the Civil Society Organization, CSOs, Partners, Donor, leaderships of Religion, Culture and Tradition including the private sectors) resolve it in the shortest possible time.”

Mrs. Kupchi appreciated the support of the United Nations Population Fund, UNFPA, and the development Research and Projects Center, dRPC, as well as others stakeholders, partners and donors for their invaluable support to the Commission.