By Our Reporters, 03.27.2006

Makama who spoke in Abuja on Friday said there was nowhere in the world that a 100 per cent enumeration had been attained.

Makama's claim immediately drew the ire of the Pan Yoruba socio-cultural group, Afenifere, whose National Publicity Secretary, Mr. Yinka Odumaki, at the weekend dismissed the census as a collosal failure. But insisting that the NPC's inability to enumerate all Nigerians was not a problem peculiar to the nation, Makama who also said the Federal Government had approved an additional N2billion for the exercise, said as at Friday, the commission had achieved 70% enumeration. "There is nowhere in the world where you have a 100% enumeration and there are no exactitude in any human endeavour", he said.

He said the commission was working hard to ensure that everyone living in Nigeria was counted during the period of census, adding that it was not impossible that a project of such magnitude as the national census could witness some shortcomings in execution. The NPC boss said while steps had been taken to prevent avoidable mistakes in the enumeration exercise, there was every possibility that some bad eggs in the system might commit some errors. He, however, said the commission had put in place some checks and balances to check-mate such errors or foul play that might occur.

For instance, he said, the data collated by enumerators were to be subjected to post-enumeration survey tests and would be read by computer scanners which would confirm their authenticity. The NPC chairman said the commission had no premeditated census figure to foist on the country. He also refuted an allegation that NPC forms were being sent to neighbouring countries, saying that there was no truth in the assertion.

He said such reports if not corrected could erode the integrity of the census and the data to be generated therefrom. "It is not true that the commission has a target population it is working towards. The 2006 population and housing census will be based on a total count of the population", he said. Makama said the assessment of 70% coverage of the enumeration he gave last Friday was based on situation reports from the field as well as the number of forms issued to the states.

"The fact that some of these states had exhausted these forms and are asking for more is enough evidence to show that 70% coverage have been achieved by NPC", he said. He, therefore, put the success rate of the enumeration as at yesterday at 95%, saying that the exercise had taken off on a faster rate in most states of the federation after the initial problems were resolved. And following its decision to extend the census period by two days (Sunday and Monday), the Federal Government yesterday approved an additional N2bn for the NPC to take care of allowances of field workers during the extension.

The FG had earleir released the sum of about N20bn being its share of the counterpart fund to NPC while another N20bn was provided by the Euroupean Union and it development partners for the census operation. Makama, who disclosed this to newsmen in Abuja, also said that government had made available helicopters to help distribute census materials to different parts of the country.

As the complaint over shortages of materials to persisted yesterday, the chairman said he had ordered an immediate inventory of the material stock at the state and local government offices of the commission. "Our offices in the states and local government areas have been directed to take stock immediately of all materials supplied and the extent of distribution", he said, adding that the measure was to enable the management to address cases of genuine shortages.

Makama said the additional allowances that would be paid census functionaries for the two days weould be N1,285 per day for enumerators, while supervisors would get N1,714 each day. He said the total amount to be paid to the two categories of ad-hoc staff at the end of the census exercise would now be N11,570 for enumerator and N15,428 for supervisor. But reacting to the widespread complaint about the enumeration, Afenifere, said the NPC had only succeded in wasting the nation's funds.

The group regretted that despite Nigerians' compliance with the stay-at-home order of the government at the expense of their jobs and well-being, the NPC had failed to enumerate most Nigerians. Afenifere said reports of insufficient enumeration materials and boycott of the exercise by many trained enumerators showed that the headcount had failed. It's National Publicity Secretary, Odumakin, in a statement regretted that the exercise, despite the huge sum of N54 billion voted for it, fell below expectation because of government's shoddy preparation.

The statement read: "Despite the enormous sacrifices made by the Nigerian people, most of whom rely on daily income, to stay at home and be counted, the first-five days of the exercise have been a failure as reports from across the country indicate non-availability of enumeration materials, dearth of enumerators and inadequate security for the exercise. "Despite Afenifere's strong objections to non-inclusion of ethnicity and religion in the census data, we decided to allow the exercise to take place so that the infant will die on its mother's laps as our people say.

We cannot see the magic the (National Population Commission) NPC will perform in the 2-day extension granted by president Obasanjo having failed to count well over 70 per cent of Lagosians, for instance, from random samplings in the first five days. "It is safe to conclude that the census exercise has joined the string of failures recorded by our 3rd-term-seeking presidency despite over three years of preparation and N54b down the rain. "At the core of this failure is the refusal to come to terms with the fact that the Federal Government as presently constituted cannot successfully organize a cold tea party. "Even at the level of football, we have seen the hasty preparation and usual failure at the world cup despite having four years to get ready and abundance of talents.

We normally start scouting for a Technical Adviser three months to the mundial. Conversely, we have witnessed the successes of club sides like Enyimba managed at the state level." Odumakin lamented that whereas, big countries like India and China thrive on daily census through accurate records of birth and death rates, it was doubtful Nigeria had a record of its former rulers. Meanwhile, Chairman, National Examinations Council (NECO), Alhaji Maieka Bello Mohammed, has described the census as a very crucuial means of generating addititonal data for planning strategies for the examination body in the coming years.

He told newsmen in Abuja, shortly after the census officials enumerated his household, that a reliable census data was part of what NECO needed in its concerted planning strategies aimed at turning the five year-old indigenous examination body into a respected world class institution. According to him, the outcome of a nationl headcount of children presently in school will enable NECO appraise its statistics for updating and would also afford the council the opportunity of knowing how many children will be of school age in the coming years. While advising parents to give accurate information on their children, he said that statistics in NECO's possession had shown that the figures of prospective candidates for examinations had been growing astronomically.

He said about 26.5 million pupils were presently in Nigerian primary schools while the first batch of the Universal Basic Education Scheme was expected to proceed to the first level of the Junior Secondary School at the end of this year. Mohammed hinted that the council had gone far in its plans to hold its first national stakeholders' workshop where various creative ideas and issues on the council's future would be thoroughly addressed, collated and compiled as a workable blueprint for its growth and progress.

He praised the federal government for the on-going census exercise, saying it showed the commitment, caurage, vision and determination of government to provide the nation with accurate data, which is crucial for the planning and development of every nation.