Census may not hold in Borno’s difficult terrains, says NPC

A federal Commissioner in the National Population Commission (NPC), Isa Buratai, has said this year’s census might not hold in Borno State’s difficult terrains.

The insurgency-affected areas are Abadam Council and Mandara Hills in Gwoza Council.He raised the alarm yesterday in Maiduguri, while briefing journalists on preparedness for the April headcount.

According to him, the media is critical to a credible exercise amid insecurity to completion of the Enumeration Areas Demarcation (EAD). Updating on NPC’s readiness, Buratai submitted: “We’re engaging journalists for an effective and efficient reporting of the forthcoming headcount exercise for a reliable and internationally accepted census.”

He added that the media could partner with the commission to overcome observable problems.Head of Department (Technical), Haruna Ibrahim, said: “About 44, 000 satellite image maps, including fairly drawn ones with enumeration boundary description, were completed for the population and housing census.”

He noted that the commission’s mandate could not be realised without a comprehensive, reliable and sustainable geographic framework.On enumeration tools, the NPC boss said: “About 50 per cent of the hybrid system is the census pad that handles geo-spatial component of the system.”
Buratai explained that the hybrid system is deployed for buildings’ numbering and households’ listing in the state.

The State Director, Kachalla Yerima, reaffirmed that both councils were a major challenge to the 1,775 trained supervisors in terms of accessibility.