Yinka Kolawole in Osogbo
Osun State Government yesterday inaugurated an inter-ministerial committee on the 2023 National Population and Housing Census with a vow to ensure an accurate compilation of facts and figures in the forthcoming headcount exercise.
Secretary of the State Government (SSG), Hon, Teslim Igbalaye, performed the inauguration in the Exco Lounge of the Governor’s Office in Abere, Osogbo
He stated that all the relevant agencies would be fully involved in the planning and execution of the population census in the state to ensure its success.
Igbalaye, who noted that Osun State was under-represented in the figures published for the 1991 National Population Census, said the committee was put together to ensure that facts and figures about the state are correctly compiled during the next National Population and Housing Census.
The state scribe posited that information on the size, distribution and characteristics of a country’s population is essential for describing and assessing its economic, social and demographic circumstances as well as for developing sound policies and programmes aimed at fostering the welfare of a country and its population.
Igbalaye, therefore, directed members of the committee to work out appropriate sensitisation and mobilisation strategies about the activities of the National Population and Housing Census exercise, organise advocacy and sensitisation programmes for local government functionaries, the media, groups on population and related issues.
He also urged the committee to regularly liaise with the National Population Commission in the state with a view to fashioning out strategies for an effective and acceptable population census.
In his remarks, the state Statistician-General, Bureau of Statistics, Mr. Abiodun Ijidele, who is also the secretary of the committee, appreciated the state government for being proactive in ensuring that the outcome of the forthcoming census reflects the actual population of the state unlike the 1991 census.
