The National Population Commission, NPC, has pleaded with the Indigenous People of Biafra, IPOB, and other pro-Biafra groups not to disrupt the 2023 population census in the South East region, as happened in 2006 when the then Movement for the Actualisation of the Sovereign State of Biafra, MASSOB, canceled the exercise in the zone.
Chief Jonny Nwabuisi, the NPC Federal Commissioner in charge of Abia State, made the plea during a news conference yesterday in Umuahia, lamenting the negative impact of the MASSOB opposition to census in the South East, which accounted for the low statistics attributed to states in the zone.
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He stated that a successful population census will benefit everyone, including those advocating for a referendum, arguing that referendum must be based on population.
His words:”In 2006, it was MASSOB; today it’s IPOB. But I say that it’s in the interest of IPOB to allow the census. If they talk of referendum ,they cannot do it in a vacuum.
” Referendum is based on population and IPOB has no population of its own that is recognized by any international body that can conduct referendum. They only rely on the population of Nigeria.
“So, it’s imperative and necessary for IPOB members to help in propagating the advocacy on census so that the South East will have a successful census. Otherwise, whatever thing they are doing will be a failure.”
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NIN, or Identify Number, would be acceptable.
The NPC chairman, who hinted that the 2023 census might be held in April, stated that safeguards had been put in place to ensure a genuine exercise.
When asked if the exercise could be performed successfully during an election year, the NPC chairman insisted that it would be a big success.
Concerning the manner of enumeration during the exercise, Nwabuisi stated that only people who could be seen physically would be counted, and that no one would be counted via proxy.
In response to a question, the NPC chief ruled out the possibility of electronic capturing during the exercise.
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He stated that the enumerators will enter the information gathered from the public into the commission’s data bank.
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