Census in Nigeria – Developing a Computer Based Census System in Nigeria

Census in Nigeria – Developing a Computer Based Census System in Nigeria

Introduction
Census in Nigeria – Census is of great interest to Nigeria government a population and housing census as a case study of great relevance to the economic, political and socio-cultural planning of a country like Nigeria.
Reliable and detailed data on the size, structure, distribution and socio-economic and demographic characteristics of a country population is required for planning. Policy intervention and monitoring of developmental goals. A population census of course, is the major source of census data required for this purpose. Information about a particular group , community, LGA ,and state are vital tools for economic social and political planning of a country like Nigeria such as , allocation of resource or fund, establishment of hospital, schools and other infrastructure facilities for social being of its citizenry.
The   housing condition and standard of living of a population provides a reliable indicator of citizen’s well being. Information on housing is in dispensable or planners and policy makers in evaluating housing needs and formulating housing policies in a country like Nigeria.
Meanwhile, whenever one talks of census coupled with the sophisticated method of generating data about citizen, and then computer application has to come into play to enhance effectiveness and efficiency. However computer base census is the use of computer in generating, storing, evaluating and accessing of census information.
This is to envisaged advantage of this term paper.

Problem Statement
In recent years, it is surprising to note that, census board did not apply computer in conducting census in Nigeria, thereby given false result. However, it is difficult to anticipate all the necessary administrative and methodological requirement of applying new technology in the conduct of census. How should a countries make, informed choices in selecting appropriate technology? There are also problem related to high cost of equipment, access to maintenance, and lack of necessary expertise. What are the most appropriate methods, so far tried to effectively adapt to the emerging demands for new technologies while maintaining the integrity of the existing data collection system? How should out resourcing of some census activities such as data processing be managed?
How should confidentiality, issues be handled in such circumstances? It is on this quest / emphasis that informing concern with computer base census system in Nigeria.

Purpose of Study
This research is to prove to the user some vital important of using computer in census counting .And also computer has not come to take over the work of some NPC staff, but to improve the accuracy, efficiency and proper documentation of vital in formation about population commission and its results

Aim and Objective of the Term Paper
This study is aimed at producing a computer base census for federal Republic of Nigeria in the areas of

i.    live birth registration

ii.    Death registration

iii.    Census registration

iv.    Statistical / analytical query on data about any citizen or group information .

it will also, edit personal data, group data, family data update data and search for citizen / group LGA and state data of a particular  geographical area and the result obtained to the database.

Objectives
The objective of this term paper work is to design and implement a well secured software package using visual basic programming language (6.0). That will

•    Edit personal data, group, LGA and states.
•    Add and delete records of each of Nigeria citizen
•    Query information about any citizen at will and update record  as well
•    Check the rate of unemployment in Nigeria
•    Produce software that has interactive user interface for data capturing and ensure reliable accurate record of every citizen in Nigeria.

  Justification
The advantage of computer base census system for federal Republic of Nigeria are numerous, they includes;

1.    It save time and energy
2.    The computer organizes and manipulates large collection of records
3.    Provision of efficient storage of information
4.    It is an effective security tools for information management

The scope of this paper will be to determine the death and birth rate of the country, the number of the unemployed youth and mostly to retrieve information about any society. LAG and state of any citizens of will and update record of each citizen, add and delete records of any citizen / society etc.

  An Overview of Census in Nigeria
The word census is a Latin term, an effort during the early modern period to conduct population surveys were historically descended from the Roman census process, which was based on sworn declarations age, number of family members, and property of individual households. Early modern political writers were impressed by the roman state of ability to enumerate and access its subject population because the equation of a commonwealth’s population with its strength had by the later sixteenth century be come a commonplace, enthusiastic recommendations of the census were made by a host of thinkers including Jean Bodin(1576),Giovanni Botero(1588) Justus cipsus(1589) and other political thinker.

According to James Robertson (1959) He defined Census as an enumeration of all people in a nation or a registration region, a systematic and complete count of all who are living in specific places, usually on a specific date. It is also describe census as a process of obtaining information about every member of a population (not necessarily a human population). The practice of census count started some year ago in Egypt in the second millennium before the Common Era, where it was used for tax gathering and to determine fitness for military services.
A further research was made by Nwankwo G. O (1977) in his book titled basic Economics and Economic growth, where he said that census is a periodic head count of the number of people living in a country. It is always carried out at regular intervals. He contrasted census with sampling in which information is only obtained from a subset of a population.

History of Census in Nigeria
Nigeria has had a long history of census taking. The first census was in 1866 the census of 1866, 1871 and 1896 were restricted to Lagos Island and some part of Lagos mainland. The census of 1901, 1911 and 1921 covered in addition to Lagos and few more urban towns in the colony.
Although numerous estimates of the Nigeria population were made during the colonial period, the first attempt at a nationwide census was during 1952.53. This attempt yielded a total population figure of 31.6 million within the current boundaries of the country. This census has usually been considered as an under count for a number of reasons, apprehension that the census was related to the collection; political intension at the time in eastern Nigeria, logistical difficulties in reaching many remote areas, and inadequate training of enumerations in some area. The extent of under counting has been estimated at 10 percent of less, although accuracy probably varied among the regions, which also depends on the knowledge of the enumerators. Despite its difficulties, the 1952-53 censuses have generally been seen as less problematic than any of its successors.

Subsequent attempts to conduct a reliable post- Independence census have been mired in controversy and only one officially accepted. The first attempt in mid-1962 was cancelled after much controversy and allegations of over counting in many areas. A second attempted in 1963 which was official accepted also was encumbered with charges of inaccuracy and manipulation for regional and political purpose.

Indeed, the official 1963 figures to 55.6 millions as total national population is in consistent with the census of a decade earlier because it implies a virtually impossible annual growth rate of 5.8 percent. In addition to likely inflation of the aggregate figure, significant intra- regional anomalies emerge from a close comparison of the 1953 and 1963 figures. In portions of the southeast, for example, the two set of data imply that some non-urban local government Areas (LGA) had increased at a rate of almost 13 percent per year, while growth of 0.5 percent per year. Despite the controversy, the results of the 1963 census were eventually accepted.

National Population Census
For effective and efficient counting / collections of data national population commission (NPC) was established by the federal government in 1088. And empowered to collect, analyze and disseminate population / demographic data in the country. The commission was reconstituted in 2001 with the chairman and 37 members representing each of state in the federation and federal capital territory. The commission has a network of offices covering all administrative tiers of the country federal, states and local government Areas (LGAS)
Nigeria the national population commission is the agency of the federal Government of Nigeria responsible for census and producing population figures for Nigeria government purposely for economic planning for its citizenry. The organization of NPC is divided into 8 departments and four (4) units there are

1.    Legal
2.    Commissioners secretariat
3.    Internal unit
4.    Federal unit

Department
1.    Planning and Research
2.    Finance and Accounts
3.    Cartography
4.    Information technology
5.    Vital registration
6.    Census
7.    Administrative
8.    Public affair

Reasons for Census in Nigeria
Honestly, we sieve several reasons for conducting census in Nigeria.Babatunde O (1984) said, hence census provides the total number of persons and housing type and their characteristic in every town, village or locality. There is need for government to accept information provided or the data for effective planning of programmers’ in education, health, housing and other social services at all levels of governance.
But Ani C. O (1990) said, in democratic societies like Nigeria, one important purpose of the people in each electoral district who eligible to vote. Information for census is gathered in most countries by enumerators who visit every dwelling systematically recorded the name, sex and age of every living there.

Godwin G. C (1963) said the essence of census count is to determine total number of people in a given state to enhance equal sharing of fund during allocation of national resources.

Who Uses Census Information
Samuila  Danko M. (2006) said, census information provide facts on group people, where they live, their economics position, ages, level of education, ethnic group, family structures activities and housing status.

The census provides planning information for:
Local Government:-local Government draws on census information when settling priorities for region and implementing local policies such as transport, housing and recreation. It also enables population trend in a region to be understood and appropriate action to be taken.

Elections: – The census provides the basis for the revision of electoral district boundaries that ensures fair representation in the parliament.

Business: – from sub- urban store to large corporation. Census information is used to select new sites for shops or super markets, to market new product and trailer marketing strategies to the need of the people living in a specific area.

Community group:-At a community level, census information is used to establish need to makes a case for resources, to monitor schemes and to organize public support. Now, from the above description, the use of census information is obvious and the people, organizations that use census information are inevitable in any of the organization to achieve their set objectives.

Types of Census
•    Head count and housing population census
•    Agricultural census and Animals census

How Do We Keep Information Confidential During Census
The law protects information you provide. It must be used only for statistical purposes.
The census provides information about group of people not individuals when we, prepare statistics, we combine your information with similar information from others.

Analysis of the Existing System
Information Gathering and Analysis
Interview method
This was done between the researcher and the secretary of the census organization Ebonyi State Chapter. An oral description was used in the interview in order to find out how they carry out their operation. Reliable facts were got based on the questions posed to them by the researcher.
Reference to Written Text.
Past researches were also studied, some of the forms that were used were studied and assessed. Also other information were gotten from the internet.
Problems with the Existing System
The existing system calls for manual processing of all data and information gotten from the public and as such a lot of time is wasted trying to sort out and file the information.
Input Analysis
This provides a virtual windows interface, which the user interacts, input or key in the information required from the various candidates involved in the headcount.
Output Analysis
The existing system is not making use of any form in the output Analysis, what they make use of is the confirmatory note from the management board they send to the staff in the form of letter.

System Design
The computer-based system is designed based on the understanding of the existing system and its inefficiencies. The objective of the design is to implement a system that will meet the user requirements; objectives of census board as well being reliable and flexible.
Main Menu Design
The personnel Information System (PIS) would have a main menu, which served as the major control module of the system. This Main menu has link to other operations available in the system.

5 Comments on “Census in Nigeria – Developing a Computer Based Census System in Nigeria”

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      1. call us on 07033378184

  1. thanks guys for creating this useful page

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