Census: Govt threatens closure of business premises

Rivers State Government on Sunday threatened to shut any business premises whose owners would not be available to be counted during the census.

The Commissioner for Information, Mr. Magnus Abe, who is also the chairman of the state Census Monitoring Committee, gave the warning while addressing a press conference in Port Harcourt.

Abe pointed out that, although the state would restrict the movement of people during the exercise, it would however not take it kindly with residents who would migrate from the state only to reappear after the heacount.

Abe, who was flanked by the Commissioner of the National Population Commission, Alhaji Abubakar Wudil, warned that the state would take steps to deal with businessmen who deserted their places to go and register in their states and return to Port Harcourt afterwards.

He said, �If we notice mass movement during the census, we will make it difficult for those who left to operate here when they return.�

The commissioner stated that the state government had made all the resources needed available to the committee to assist the NPC in ensuring a hitch-free headcount and pleaded with the people of the state to cooperate with the team in ensuring the success of the exercise.

Abe said that it was the state government that even provided the personnel engaged by the NPC for the census and that the money had been shared to the beneficiaries before Sunday afternoon.

Abe said the state governor gave the directive that money be sourced from within and paid to the enumerators when the bank saddled with the task of paying the census staff declined to do so on Sunday.

Speaking, Alhaji Abubakar Wudil said the commission had recruited and trained 30, 000 persons for the census and that all the materials needed for the exercise had been distributed to the 23 local government areas of the state.

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