Ahead of the National Population Census scheduled for 2016, the World Bank has granted $5million to the National Population Commission (NPC) as part of the funds for the training of staff and other logistics.
The agreement for the grant was signed on June 16 between the Federal Government and the World Bank.
The quest for the support was initiated in May 2009 through the presentation of a five-year strategy document seeking support from the global bank for capacity building programme to strengthen the commission’s capacity to meet the challenges of timeliness in data production.
The Director-General of the NPC, Mr Jamim Dora-Zubema, disclosed this yesterday in Abuja at the capacity building workshop on project management for the staff of the commission under the Statistics for Results Facility-Catalytic Fund programme supported by the World Bank.
Zubema said: “The initial plan was a request for a support programme that spans a period of five years to cover all the activities for the planned period (2009-2014). However, following series of meetings with the World Bank in furtherance of the consideration of our submission, the (World) Bank finally approved a $5milion grant over a three-year period under the SRC-CF No.TF099783.
“I am pleased to inform you that by 2014, we will be better prepared, with enhanced human and technical capacity not only for carrying out the routine duties but also with better human resource and technical disposition to effectively handle the task of census taking in 2016.”
The NPC helmsman also disclosed that the grant would terminate on February 28, 2014, in accordance with the agreement signed on June 16, 2011 between the Federal Government and the World Bank.
The commission, he said, had since October already started accessing the grant with the training of 148 cartographers for three weeks while 20 census personnel have undergone refresher workshop in demographic techniques and data analysis at the Obafemi Awolowo University , Ile-Ife to be followed by an in-house training of another 100 staff in two selected venues.
He said: “Activities outlined in the approved support document have been prioritised. Worthy of note also is the distribution of some of the activities designed with the focal states of Anambra, Bauchi, Edo, Kaduna, Niger and Ondo where the Bank has other projects.
View original post here:
World Bank grants Fed Govt $5m for 2016 census