Nigeria is conducting a census in May 2022 and the Chairman, National Population Commission (NPC), Nasir Isa Kwarra has said it will be the country’s first ever digital census.

Dr. Ipabilo Harry, the chairman of the Census Committee also corroborated this at an event in Nasarawa on 7th January 2022. 

The census is conducted every 10 years and Nigeria is 4 years behind schedule with the 2022 census. The last census in Nigeria was carried out in 2006 where Nigeria’s population was estimated at over 140 million with the North having the highest population. The result was contested. 

The contenders of the 2006 census in Nigeria, claimed that the problem is not data collection but data reporting. 

A digital census could potentially rule out the problem of faulty data reporting since all data is going to be saved in a server/central storage which can only be accessed by authorised personnels. 

The digital census which would be the first-ever digital census in Nigeria would be using mobile handheld devices and Geographic Information Systems (GIS) and satellite imageries to create a census map.

How Digital Census Works

According to the United Nations census data methodology, the digital census will adopt the use of Personal Digital Assistant (PDA). The PDA is a small handheld device which allows for census data to be stored and captured electronically to the device’s memory or a central location. 

A database of enumerators would first be created and the enumerators area ID would be linked to each enumerator, the enumerators ID would be used to locate enumeration areas. Geocodes would be created in the map to identify buildings and households.  

The enumerator asks the correspondents in each building point with unique numbering and listing predefined questions in the PDA and then enters the correspondent’s answer in predefined options or enters a variable with a pen shaped device. After the enumeration process, the data is retrieved from servers or device memory and goes for analysis. Post enumeration survey is then carried out to authenticate the census data, after which dissemination and further analysis follows. 

The digital census has been postulated to be carried out according to the UN standard of the digital census. Countries like Ghana, South Africa, USA, and India have carried out their census using the digital census. 

Having seen the success in these countries, Nigeria intends to adopt this method in the planned census.

Digital Census and Nigeria

The PDA will no doubt be a great improvement on the old order of manual counting. Technology has evolved greatly but every system has its pros and cons, and it is no less so in the case of the adoption of a digital census.

The digital census could help prevent manual input errors and ensure data validation. The digital census is also time effective, in terms of cutting short processing the census result and availability of results. 

The digital census can also help reduce double-counting to an extent since information is contained in a source that can detect if the same information has been input earlier. 

However,  below are four things the National Population Commission must take cognizance of as it plans to deliver on its census mandate.

First is that digital census may take a longer period of time to set up compared to the manual process setup, it also requires intensive training of enumerators on how to use the devices to avoid human error in the field.

Secondly, there is a risk of equipment failure, an instance of such technical failures in Nigeria is the failure of INEC card readers during elections in Anambra last year. The failure of INEC card readers led to the disenfranchisement of registered voters and the NPC must be prepared to avoid such failures for a census that has such high stakes for the country.

The need to recharge the devices which may run out of battery during the enumeration process is a third challenge as power supply is still largely irregular and non-existent in some parts of the country. As equipment is being purchased the commission must factor in alternate sources of power for the devices.

There is also a high cost of equipment and little or no use for equipment after the census, which may lead to wastage. Has the commission considered how to minimise wastage on its digital adventure?

The pre-testing of the digital census took place in 148 local governments across 36 states and the FCT, and the Chairman of the National Population Commission in his speech on the commission’s website has regarded the outcome of the preparatory exercise to be good and able to deliver a reliable and credible census. 

It is hoped that the Commission has factored in some of the challenges highlighted so it can deliver a credible census with minimal errors and minimal contention over results.