Members of Ihiala Local Government Area of Anambra State have assured enumerators and personnel of the National Population Commission that will be deployed in the community of their safety during the 2023 headcount.
The community also stated that it was making arrangement to host a total of 1,501 census workers in May.
A breakdown of the figures of the census staff showed that there are about 1,082 enumerators, 232 supervisors, 78 field coordinators, 109 facilitators and technical team.
This was contained in a communiqué issued at the end of a strategic meeting with officials of NPC, PGs and traditional rulers in the local area on Sunday.
The meeting was at the instance of the Ihiala LG Training and Field Coordinator, Mr Chibuzor Igboanusi.
In the communiqué, the community agreed that it was their responsibility to provide a place for NPC staff to stay within the locality, so as to keep them secure, provide enough logistics for them to carry out a thorough and complete counting in the communities.
It said, “Each locality must appoint persons who will take the enumeration officers around. Such guides must know the area, the houses, the families and the occupants well.
“Fundraising shall be done at LG, ward, town and village levels to ensure a hitch-free exercise. Calls shall also be made for people to volunteer their accommodation, transportation, feeding and other logistics support for the officials. Others can also volunteer their time and services in support.
“Localities with security challenges must find a way to arrange a truce, ceasefire or at least broker a security passage window within the census period to ensure a peaceful and calm atmosphere for both the locals and the officials to deliver a successful campaign.
“Ad hoc staff training will be coming up in seven centres in five localities of the LG and each locality is to ensure that they adequately provide for trainers in their areas in terms of accommodation and other logistics.”