The National Population Commission has said it will not proceed with the payment for ad hoc staff since they will not be engaged in any field work after the indefinite postponement of the 2023 census.
The NPC Census Manager, Dr Inuwa Jalingo, said this during a media chat in Abuja on Sunday.
He also noted that for those who would be engaged online, the commission will likely provide for their data costs.
“Payments for functionaries are pay-as-you-go. We cannot pay field functionaries for work not done. The budget for the census is based on the fact that you are going to work, and every day you would have an amount of money to be paid to you.
“As long as they are not engaged in the work, they are not going to be paid. For those that we are engaging online, we will provide their data cost to ensure that they participate in the online training,” Jalingo said.
He further noted that the commission was technically ready to implement the census and that preparation for the exercise continues.
He added that the commission had data on Nigeria’s geospatial information that other government agencies had used to carry out their activities.
He also said the commission already possessed over 400,000 devices to be used for the census and had all been sent to the Central Bank of Nigeria branches across the states.
Also speaking, the Director of the Public Affairs Department, NPC, Dr Isiaka Yahaya, urged Nigerians to dismiss misconceptions that the census was postponed due to lack of funding and inadequate preparation by the commission.
Yahaya noted that the nation was not losing anything by postponing the census but gained a lot by having extra time to continue preparations to have effective data that would aid planning.
The commission also noted that it was ready to conduct the National Housing and Population Census but waiting for a go-ahead from the government of President-elect Bola Tinubu.
