FG asks PLwDs to ‘actively participate’ in 2023 census

The federal government has urged persons living with disabilities to actively participate in the forthcoming population census.

James Lalu, executive secretary, National Commission for Persons with Disability, spoke on Wednesday at a meeting with stakeholders in Abuja.

He asked PLwDs to come out and be counted during the exercise, noting that their participation will give them a sense of belonging.

He said the population of PLWDs usually commands political and economic strength, especially when it comes to the distribution of national wealth.

Lalu urged parents and guardians to encourage their wards to show considerable interest in the census.

Meanwhile, the National Population Commission (NPC) has said mentally ill and homeless persons would be counted during the census.

Diran Iyantan, the NPC federal commissioner representing Ondo state, assured Nigerians that the exercise will have at least 98 percent success rate.

Oluyemi Falusi, the state director of NPC, said the digitalisation of the census is in accordance with United Nations (UN) recommendations.

He said the exercise would be the first digital census in Nigeria and that it would help to reduce errors.

Falusi said training, recruitment, deployment, and other processes of the exercise were completely digitalised.