Although the census exercise has been postponed by the Federal Government, Ogwa confirmed that the commission is effectively preparing for the exercise. He maintained that the commission’s technology for the exercise had zero tolerance for corruption, adulteration and interference and that necessary tests had been carried out during the trial census.
“We have a standardised digital technology system for the whole country and every data captured is sent to the same server from the enumerators to the supervisors for onward transmission to local government officials. So as an enumerator, you cannot tell lies or falsify data because immediately you do, the Data Quality Assistants will find out and carry out a confirmatory test for that ward," Ogwa explained.
The commissioner assured residents of Cross River that the commission is ever ready to conduct a digital census that will generate reliable and acceptable data that will be used to plan for the state. Ogwa also explained that the postponement of the census exercise gives the commission more time to address some real issues, mostly with the compendium of localities, which will minimise litigation in Cross River after the exercise.
Regarding biometrics, Ogwa noted that the census devices did not capture biometrics, which would have been a conflict of duties with the National Identity Management Commission (NIMC). However, there would be data compatibility. He added that no country in the world had deployed biometrics in its census taking because it would bring up more issues.
“For example, some Nigerians have put in their National Identity Cards (NIN) that they were born in 1950, and the same people will tell enumerators during the census that they were born in 1955. This will create some challenges for the system,” Ogwa explained.
The commissioner also warned against the principle of ‘bashiga,’ which means “no entrance.” He explained that if an enumerator is refused entrance into a household, he will key in a blank for the household, which is a disadvantage to that community. He stressed that the census exercise will be carried out with utmost professionalism and transparency, and encouraged Nigerians to cooperate with the commission for a successful exercise.