23 Mar 2006 |
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- Florence Ogbuehi, a Census official in Enugu The on-going census exercise is a national embarrassment, a huge joke, a disaster. It is nothing short of robbery. It has exposed our government's inability to manage processes and produce quality results. It has driven to the surface as always, the seamy sides of the Nigerian character as much as it has shown how a refusal to respect public opinion can prove costly. It has reminded us that we are not yet a nation. Until we resolve the various issues that divide Nigerians: those issues which annoy people and force them to resort to self-help: we would never be able to count ourselves or do anything that requires national solidarity or a sense of citizenship. If these realisations can be regarded as useful fall-outs of the Census exercise, then perhaps some value may be ascribed to what has been done so far. But if the Census was meant to provide an accurate and reliable population figure, for purposes of national planning and/or documentation, then, it can be said without any fear of contradiction that Census 2006 has failed. In fact, it died a-borning. It should be cancelled. Despite the failure of the Population Commission to provide necessary information, and inspire confidence, Nigerians still showed great interest, mixed with enthusiasm, in the exercise. They genuinely wanted to be counted. But the National Population Commission was not prepared. It lacked both focus and capacity. Samui'la Makanma, the leader of the present NPC owes Nigerians an apology. He has conducted a shoddy census which will be remembered more for its advertisement of the complexity of the Nigerian state. After three days of the exercise, a few categorical observations can be made under the following sub-headings which would seem to sign-post the key issues relating to the Census: Go to Work or Stay-at-Home: A few days before the exercise began, Nigerians had been under the impression that from March 21-25, they would be required to stay at home between 8 a.m. and 4 p.m, to enable enumerators carry out a head-count and the associated Housing Census. This soon became a subject of controversy between the Federal Government and the Lagos State Government. The Federal Government had ordered persons to go about their normal businesses, while declaring Friday and Saturday as work-free days for the purpose of the Census. The calculation of the Federal Government was that a shut-down of the entire country will translate into a high cost for the economy, affect productivity and raise the overall cost of the Census. The Lagos State Government argued that the only way a proper Census can be conducted is to have people stay at home where they can be easily accessed. Between the economic and the cultural argument, the actual exercise has shown the wisdom of the latter. By Tuesday when the exercise began, only Lagos and Ogun states had declared work-free days, while in other parts of the country, persons simply went about their own routine activities. In the states where there was no stay-at-home order, nothing actually took place. It was therefore not surprising when by Wednesday more states decided to enforce stay-at-home orders - Osun, Kano, Rivers and Oyo. It would be useful when all this is over, to compare the level of success in states where persons stayed at home and those states where persons were allowed to go to work. Shutting down the entire country to conduct a Census may have indeed increased the cost of the exercise but given our circumstances, it would have been the wisest thing to do. Was the Population Commission Prepared? The answer to this question is a loud, resounding No. On Tuesday, the first day of the Census, Nigerians waited in vain for Census officials to show up at their doorsteps; only to be told later that enumerators were still waiting for materials. In Kaduna, this was the situation for the first two days of the exercise. Payment of allowances was also an issue as enumerators in more than three states decided to go on rampage in protest against the non-payment of the allowances that they had been promised. Thus, on Day One, Census 2006 began with a team of angry enumerators - many of whom were taking part in the exercise not out of patriotism but as an opportunity to earn an income. When some of them eventually received their allowances, they simply vanished into thin air! Enumerators were drawn from the ranks of unemployed persons, under-paid workers, and distracted persons. What quality of attention or level of efficiency could anyone expect from such a team? The National Population Commission had employed about one million enumerators, and 42,000 monitors but it made no arrangement for logistics. When the exercise began, enumerators and monitors were without jackets, the Census bags were not enough. In Rivers there was a shortage of manpower because many of the enumerators who had been trained refused to report for the assignment. Mercenaries had to be recruited to address the emergency. In Lagos, pencils and erasers were in short supply. A group of Census officials that came to our neighbourhood had to beg for pencils. Someone even gave them an ink-pad to be used for thumb-printing. By the time it was my turn, the ink-pad had dried up, and there was no ink. In many places, Census officials showed up to mark buildings and apartments with the promise that they would return later to count the people. They are yet to do so. I know many persons who are still waiting to be counted. For the past three days, Nigerians have asked each other only one question: have you been counted? In Abuja, a lady reported that she was going to visit a friend when she was "captured" by some Census officials and counted? When it rained on the second day of the Census, the officials had neither raincoats nor umbrellas! The National Question: The refusal of the Federal authorities to include ethnicity and religion in the Census Data Form had generated much controversy ahead of the exercise. Census 2006 would go down in history as the most violent Census exercise ever conducted in Nigeria. A week to it and in the last four days, there have been reports of killings, communal clashes, arson, bomb explosions, acid attacks and armed robbery: all inspired by fears about the meaning of the Census and the objections of aggrieved parties. In Port Harcourt, enumerators were assaulted for failing to explain the purpose of the census, across the East, MASSOB militants used bomb, pistols, acid and other weapons to register their objection. As at the last count, about 16 lives have been lost to this Census exercise. Of what use is a national Census exercise that is marked by so much violence? I wouldn't be surprised if some of the female enumerators, who tend to show up as two women teams, have been raped! In Ondo and Bayelsa, enumerators were rejected by communities because they were non-indigenes; the poor fellows fled. Census figures are used for resource allocation purposes, federal character and the distribution of power. Other communities have in fact contributed money with which they planned or are planning to bribe enumerators whose brief is to help them inflate figures. The Lagos State Government which has borne the pain of being cheated in the numbers game by states in the North, has devoted much energy to this Census exercise. Still, by last Sunday many Lagos residents had escaped to their states of origin. Ordinarily, Census should evoke feelings of nationalism, Census 2006 is seen more as an anti-people exercise. There are too many angry persons in Nigeria; for them Census 2006 is an opportunity for expressing their frustrations. They don't trust government; they don't trust other persons either; they have no respect for the human person. They ask: why count us, when you have not provided for us? Who is Counting Who? There is so much confusion, especially in Lagos State where persons have reported being approached by a multiplicity of enumerators donning all kinds of jackets: green, orange, yellow. There are enumerators representing the Federal Government; another set of enumerators representing the Lagos State Government; yet another set representing nobody in particular: these are the fake enumerators who are using Census 2006 to commit fraud and other atrocities. The stage has already been set for endless controversy. Whose figure would be considered authentic at the end of this exercise? And the fake enumerators entering people's apartments and drinking tea which the Lagos state Government says residents should provide as a token of hospitality, could they be armed robbers collecting data for future operation? Census as Robbery: Nigerians are being robbed. So much money - public funds - has been committed to the exercise but the people are not receiving any quality service. Makanma's NPC is inept. Enumerators are also claiming that they have been robbed. They have been told that they will be paid after the exercise, but they insist that they don't want to be treated like pensioners! In Kano state, enumerators have threatened not to submit the Census forms until they have been paid! Persons who stayed at home throughout the exercise, who genuinely felt that they were making a sacrifice for the country also feel robbed. Their time has been wasted. Add to this the cases of actual armed robbery that have occurred. Yesterday, newspapers reported how fake enumerators went to a house in Ikoyi and subjected a poor family to great torture. The level of cynicism in this country continues to deepen daily. Robbers also attacked enumerators and took away their allowances. But how about the NPC officials holding on to the allowances of enumerators? When this joke is over, Makanma and his men must give a proper account of how money was spent. There must be a proper audit of NPC accounts and the findings must be made public. Public Perception: The test of the Census lies in public perception. Do Nigerians feel that a serious Census has been conducted? Do they give the impression that this has been done in the interest of the people? What I have seen and heard is that Nigerians feel that their time has been wasted. Even lepers in Ondo state have protested that nobody should bring Census near their camp or else they will inflict leprosy on that person. The general assumption on the streets is that no Census has taken place. On the first day of the Census, people greeted each other: Barka da census!. I also received the following text titled "Census and the Effect of 5 days stay at home: A. More Babies. B. Overweight. C. Empty Pocket. D. Boredom. E. Power Holding Punishment. F. Neighbours' nuisance. G. Endless wait for census guys... We are winning." But are we winning? The principal lesson is that a population Census need not be conducted in a fire-brigade fashion. What the country needs is a strong statistical culture, and consistent, reliable record-keeping: up-to-date records of birth, death, a reliable voters' register, accurate housing numbering and school enrolment to build a national data-base which provides a clearer picture of the country's demography. The head-count that is being conducted ought not to be more than a verification, or confirmation exercise. Given the state of our politics, we may never know the country's true population figure. It is all the more painful because in April 2005, Uganda's Environment Minister, Kahinda Otafire had said that the opposition in his country was unfit to govern "like Nigerians who do not know how to count themselves." He was promptly attacked by C. D. Orike, Nigeria's envoy to Uganda. Otafire has been vindicated. He is right. We, Nigerians, "do not know how to count ourselves."
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