What is a census?

A population census is the counting of all the people living in a country at a particular time. It collects information on the size, distribution, composition and other social/economic characteristic of population.

Why is a census necessary?

Information collected during a census is used to assess the current welfare needs of the population as well as to project future needs to assist planners to make realistic future development needs

The 2006 census will tell us

• The number of person in Nigeria
• The number of males and females
• The age composition of the population
• The level of literacy
• The level of employment/unemployment and types of occupation
• And other information.

Uses of census data

Education

• Data from 2006 census will assist government In determining levels of literacy and planning for education by providing information on:
• The number of people who can read and write
• The level of education attained by those who have been to school
• The number of school age children presently not in school.

Health

• Data from the 2006 census will assist government at all levels in planning for the health of the people by providing the information on numbers of people and their health needs.

Employment

• The 2006 census will assist in establishing the level of employment/un employment for future planning and job creation by providing the following information:
o Number of employed persons and type of work
o Distribution of unemployed persons
o Number of persons in schools that will require employment in due course?

Gender Empowerment

• Women are often marginalized and denied access to opportunities for educational, social and political fulfilment. The 2006 census will assist governments in formulating appropriate intervention strategies.

Assessment of development programmes

• Data from the 2006 census will provide basis for evaluation of the various development programmes undertaken by the governments and NGOs.

Foreign Policy

• The 2006 census will help the federal government in promoting our foreign policy objectives by providing information on:
o The number of foreigners living in Nigeria?
o The nationalities of the foreign population?

The private sector

• The private sector needs census data to plan production, marketing and make informed investment decisions in the country.

Housing

• For governments to come up with effective housing policies, as well as improve availability of houses and amenities, it is necessary to take stock of the current housing condition and amenities such as electricity and water supply.

Pre-census 2005 activities

• Enumeration Area Demarcation
• Design of Census Questionnaire
• Trial census
• Soliciting support of leader and the public
• Recruiting and training of census personnel.

Enumeration

• Only persons physically seen will be counted
• Persons will be counted in their houses
• All persons will be fingerprinted to ensure that nobody is counted twice.

Questions to be asked

• Names
• Age
• Sex
• Relationship to head of household
• Nationality
• Local Government of origin
• Place of usual residence
• Duration of residence
• Previous residence
• Disability
• Literacy
• Schooling status
• Education
• Marital status
• Work status
• Occupation.

Questions on housing

• Type of living house
• Type of housing units
• Number of sleeping rooms
• Main construction materials used for the floors and the roofing
• Tenure status (rented, owned etc)
• Main source of water supply
• Toilet facilities
• Cooking fuel
• Energy for lighting (electricity, gas, kerosene, solar, candle and others)
• Methods of waste disposal
• Ownership of household facilities (e.g. Radio, Television, Phone).

Confidentiality

• All information given to enumerators will be treated with utmost confidentiality.
• Enumerators who breach this confidentiality will be punishable by law.

Census 2006 will not be used for

• Taxation purposes
• Inflating numbers of certain communities.

Census offences

• To refuse to be counted
• To be counted more than once
• To give false information to the enumerator
• To obstruct the enumerator in the discharge of his/her duties.

Your role as a patriotic Nigerian

• Creating general awareness on the conduct of the 2005 census among our communities, families and friends
• Educating people on the methodologies to be adopted in the conduct of the 2005 census and helping them to overcome prejudices
• Being vanguard for the accuracy, reliability and acceptability of 2005 census.

Census 2006
Together we can make it!