Population census as an economic empowerment programme

March 29, 2016 marked the ten year anniversary of the conduct of the 2006 Population and Housing Census in Nigeria and the period when the next national census should have been conducted in line with global tradition on decennial census takings.  However, five months after the due date, another census is yet to be conducted […]

March 29, 2016 marked the ten year anniversary of the conduct of the 2006 Population and Housing Census in Nigeria and the period when the next national census should have been conducted in line with global tradition on decennial census takings. 
However, five months after the due date, another census is yet to be conducted and there is palpable silence and uncertainty about the date for the next census. Apparently, the national reluctance to take another shot at the census is exacerbated by the perceived huge cost of the exercise which has been put at over N200 billion. Given the dwindling national revenue caused by drop in oil prices and output, the tendency has been to view the cost of the census as an avoidable burden which the national purse resources should not carry now.  The need to divert resources to pressing challenges confronting the nation which have either been caused or complicated by unemployment and elevated poverty level has been used to shot down the clamour for a national census.
The poverty of the current national discourse on the cost of the next census is the excessive and narrow focus on the economic costs of the next census without a corresponding appreciation of its far reaching economic and social gains. No doubt, the primary role of census is to provide demographic data for planning for sustainable development. However, a census is also an economic empowerment tool that will directly transfer resources to over a million of Nigerians and indirectly to thousands of local service providers across the length and breadth of the country.  This empowerment potential of the census, which is often overlooked, will reflate the economy with multiplier effects on the economy thereby reducing poverty.  Indeed, the increased level of unemployment and poverty rather than being a disincentive for the conduct of the next census should in fact be the raison d’etre for its conduct in the nearest future.  It provides the very productive platform for the injection of billions of Naira into the economy.
Unlike most national projects of this magnitude, census is a wholly national affair.  Personnel and infrastructures to be deployed for the census and for which resources are to be expended are to be locally sourced with a negligible fraction of foreign input.  The type of mass participation provided by a census is second to none such that it is hard to imagine that there will be any community no matter how remote that will not contribute personnel to the conduct of the census or provide one service or the other. 
For the conduct of the next census, the Commission plans to recruit, train and deploy over 1.2 million personnel consisting of coordinators, supervisors and enumerators to be drawn from outside the Commission.  These personnel are to be engaged for about three weeks and paid the sum of monies ranging from N100,000 to N120,000 per person for the exercise. This average stipend is more than two months salaries of a fresh graduate in most states of the federation.  To be engaged for the exercise are low income working class such as teachers and youth corpers as well as unemployed Nigerians.  It is noteworthy that these personnel will be drawn from every part of the country and evenly spread as enumerators will be recruited from the local communities. The total emolument the Commission will transfer in form of allowances to field workers for the trial census, the main census and the post enumeration survey is in excess of N120 billion which constitutes over 50% of the entire census budget.
The economic empowerment gains of the census are not limited to the census period. Ahead of the enumeration, the Commission will carry out Enumeration Area Demarcation which is the division of the entire land area of Nigeria into small unit areas that can be covered by a pair of enumerators during the census period.  The Commission has demarcated 37 Local Government Areas under the first and second phases of the EAD. The next phase, which will cover the remaining 737 LGAs will take place for 18 months. As the Commission cannot source these personnel from its field staff, about 3,360 personnel are to be engaged for 18 months and paid allowances in excess of 8 billion Naira.
It should be noted that census takings and other related activities will boost the income of thousands of local service providers. Being the biggest peacetime activity and next to war in terms of mobilization of men and resources,  huge logistics structures will be required for the deployment of personnel and materials during the census. As part of preparatory activities for the census, meetings, workshops and trainings will be organized across the nation. This will be a boost for hotel owners who will provide venues and accommodation for these activities.  For food vendors and petty traders in communities where the enumerators will work, there will be boost in sales and profit.
Beyond these economic gains, the nation stands to derive enduring capacity building benefits from the next census. The Commission plans to conduct a biometric-based census involving the capture of the facial impression and finger prints of respondents during the census. About 600,000 Electronic Data Capture (EDC) devices will be procured for use during the census period. The enduring benefits of this census methodology are two folds. First, the training of over a million people in basic computer skills and application, majority of who are young persons will lead to a transformation of the National IT sector by ensuring that more people are computer literate. This will save the nation billions of Naira to be expended on similar trainings for surveys and future censuses. Second, the number of devices to be procured is quite substantial to meet the needs of the nation for the conduct of surveys by other agencies thereby reducing the cost of carrying out such activities at the national and state levels.
For an economy in which the people are already marginalized, the focus of discourse on the budget of the next census should shift from the economic costs of the census to its economic and social gains which are quite significant in ensuring that the people are empowered and given the resources to lead a fulfilled live. The main feature of the economic hardship being experienced by Nigerians is the shortage of cash which has virtually put in productive activities into comatose. Any project that will transfer resources directly to the grassroots no matter the cost is a wise economic decision that will yield dividends to the people.  The times are hard and government needs all the resources to carry out programmes that will improve the living standard of the people. The conduct of the next census even with its perceived huge cost does not fall into the category of avoidable burden and there is no better time to conduct the next census than now.

Yahaya is a Deputy Director in the Public Affairs Department of the National Population Commission, Abuja.