By Adeleye Kunle
The National Population Commission (NPC) in Anambra State said on Tuesday that unqualified candidates attempted to hack its online recruitment portal during the state’s ongoing trial census.
Mr Chidi Ezeoke, the Federal Commissioner representing the State in the Commission, made the announcement in Awka during a briefing on the Trial Population and Housing Census in the seven towns of Idemili South Local Government Area.
The Commission established a fully digitalised online geo-fenced portal aimed at recruiting personnel from the selected communities across the country.
However, Ezeoke assuaged concerns about using unqualified people in the exercise by assuring the Commission’s commitment to correcting any detected anomaly in order to ensure an accurate and reliable census in 2023.
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“The purpose of this trial census is to correct some of these anomalies,” he explained. We want to make certain that we will organize a hack-free process. If people are successful in this, we want to make it difficult for them during the 2023 census.
“I’m almost certain that attempt was thwarted to a large extent.” However, when you’re testing something, it’ll be difficult to keep others from interfering with your efforts.”
Describing the census as a capital-intensive exercise, the NPC boss assured that funding would not be a hindrance to a smooth operation, just as he promised adequate security for the personnel.
“Most of the time, foreign donor agencies assist the government.” We currently have enough funding, and we hope that more will be made available during the main census.
“Everyone, including international organizations, wants Nigeria to provide exact, accurate, and reliable figures.” When you want to quote the Nigerian population, you always say about. “As a result, they want to be a part of that process,” he added.
Also speaking, Dr. Joachim Ulasi, State Director, denied any substitution of recruited officers for the exercise, claiming that the only ones dropped were those who were absent during the 12-day training.
“There is no one who applied and was recruited in the state who was not accepted as long as he or she had a National Identification Number.”
“However, those who did not attend any of the 30 classes in the state’s seven centers during the training period were replaced with gatecrashers,” he said.
