Population commission partners surveyor-general's office for 2016 census

By The Citizen

The National Population Commission has entered into a partnership with the Office of the Surveyor-General of the Federation ahead of the 2016 census.

The Head, Technical Management, NPC, Mr. Festus Uzo, who led the commission's delegation to the surveyor-general's office in Abuja on Friday, said the partnership became imperative because the OSGOF was in charge of mapping of the entire country.

Uzo said in the past, census results were always disputed, stressing that adequate mapping would help the commission to carry out verifiable population survey by 2016.

He said, 'Census results are usually contentious like electoral results, so we want to be able to map out our generation areas in a way that people can see, feel and touch them.

'The first step in achieving acceptable, reasonable and verifiable census result is to have proper area demarcation, which can only be made possible through an appropriate resolution of digital image, and we believe this can be possible by working with you.'

Uzo said the NPC had looked at different resolutions and had engaged many vendors, but decided to partner the OSGOF because of the user licence it had and its capacity-building initiatives.

He said the commission considered it necessary to work with the surveyor-general's office in order to get the images that would form the necessary specification of what was needed, and to get them at a critical time.

'There are some images that we will require for 2013 going forward. There are some we will require before or by 2015. So, we need to work together to have a plan of delivery and have an agreement on the resolution that will, perhaps, be delivered to us,' he said.

In his reaction, the Surveyor-General of the Federation, Prof. Peter Nwilo, said his office was pleased to work with the NPC.

He said, 'We have 2.5m resolution of the entire country, and in order to be sure that you can verify some of the figures you get, you may have to employ three dimensional image resolutions.

'We hope that subject to the approval of the President, we will be able to acquire some graphical cameras and other high-tech equipment that will help us to get our desired objectives. I want to assure you of the support of this office at all times, and we will work with you very diligently to achieve our goals.'