A 20-member National Census Publicity, Education and Advocacy Committee (NCPEAC) was yesterday inaugurated in Accra with a call on the members to ensure a successful 2020 Population and Housing Census.
It is chaired by the Minister of Information, Mr Kojo Oppong Nkrumah, with members from the Ministry of Information, Ghana Statistical Service, National House of Chiefs, the National Commission on Civic Education, Ghana Civil Society Organisation, Ghana Broadcasting Corporation, Ghana News Agency and the Private Newspapers and Publishers’ Association of Ghana.
The rest are the Media and Communication Advocacy Network, Ghana Independent Broadcasters Association, Information Services Department, Catholic Secretariat, Christian Council of Ghana, Pentecostal and Charismatic Council of Ghana, Office of the National Chief Imam, Coalition of Muslim Groups and the Ahmadiyya Muslim Mission, Ghana.
The committee would among other things, see to the extensive promotion of the census as a means of driving the population to buy into it.
They are also expected to effectively promote and drive publicity of the event as a means of gingering the population to buy into the census programme and avail themselves at all times to provide the needed information for policy making in the country.
Inaugurating the committee, Mr Nkrumah said it was important for Ghanaians to be made aware that the country had a long history in census taking, dating back to 1891.
He said the country had been very conscious of the benefits of census and its importance to national development, as a result government was committed to ensure that the 2020 census was successful.
“In recent times, countries all over the world have depended extensively on census data to guide their planning and monitoring of both national and international policy interventions,” he added.
Mr Nkrumah explained that the country had been monitoring its national policies such as poverty alleviation policy programmes, the Africa Agenda 2063 and the indicators related to the Sustainable Development Goals.
“Thus, the 2020 Population and Housing Census is expected to provide a reliable database for policy reviews and ensure systematic improvement in the implementation of government’s ongoing interventions such as Planting for Food and Jobs, NABCO, LEAP and Youth in Agriculture among others that may be development in the course of the next decade,” he stressed.
On his part, the Government Statistician, Professor Samuel Kobina Anim, said all the necessary structures and plans had been put in place to ensure that the 2020 census was distinct and different from all that had ever taken place in the country.
He said the Ghana Statistical Service had already conducted its first trial census and on November 18 this year, the second trial would begin in parts of THE Kpone Katamanso municipality of the Greater Accra Region, parts of the Aowin municipality in the Western North, the whole of the Ekumfi District in the Central Region and the entire Krachi-Nchumuru District in the Oti Region.
Prof Anim explained that the 2020 census would make full use of technology and as part of the exercise about 70,000 tablets would be deployed for the exercise.
He said government had demonstrated its commitment to the exercise and had provided the needed budgetary support towards the success of the exercise.
BY CLIFF EKUFUL
