| SOLDIERS from the 82 Division of the Nigerian Army, Enugu have been deployed in the streets of the Coal City to check further disruption of the National Population and Housing Census by youths, who unleashed terror on residents at the take-off of the exercise.
Chairman of the National Population Commission (NPC), Chief Samuila Makama, said yesterday that 95 per cent of Nigerians had been enumerated. Vanguard learnt that the decision to deploy the soldiers to beef up security during the remaining days of the exercise was taken at a meeting between Governor Chimaroke Nnamani, security chiefs and chairmen of local government areas last Friday following reports of incessant attacks on enumerators and other census officials by youths believed to be members of the Movement for the Actualization of the Sovereign State of Biafra (MASSOB). The soldiers drove round major roads in Enugu in three trucks, weekend, to send signals to the youths that they were ready to contain their excesses. They later mounted roadblocks in different parts of the state capital, checking vehicles and apprehending those who violated the restriction of movement order. About 16 soldiers were also stationed at the NPC state secretariat to assist the police and men of the Civil Defence Corps in providing security for census officials and materials. The NPC Commissioner, Dr Suleman Bello, told reporters that the security reinforcement which led to the deployment of soldiers in the streets was part of the security procedures aimed at ensuring the safety of the materials and census officials. �We do not want any security breach that may affect the work of the Commission especially now that we have reached this level in the exercise. The soldiers are here to provide security and guarantee the free movement of census officials and materials,� Bello said. �95% Nigerians eenumerated� Chairman of the NPC, Chief Makama, giving an update on the Census yesterday in Abuja said 95 per cent of Nigerians had been enumerated as at yesterday and promised that all payments to enumerators and other service providers for the exercise would be handled transparently. Besides, the Police said 82 persons who committed census offences and attempted to instigate violence during the enumeration were arrested across the country and would be made to face the law. �All the supervisors and enumerators that have undergone the training must be paid. Payment will start immediately after the exercise and all the names have been forwarded to the appropriate banks,� Chief Makama said, adding: �There is no way an outsider will get money when his name is not on the list or has never gone through the training.� He said the Commission had addressed all the complaints associated with the exercise assuring that it will end on a successful note. �With the extension of the census exercise, I�m very optimistic that the census is going to be a success. We are getting to the bridge and we will cross it,� he said. It�s a national disappointment � AD However, the Alliance for Democracy (AD) reviewing the census, yesterday, dismissed it as a national disappointment. �The picture after six days of the exercise is of dismal failure and national shame. The European Union, EU and other sponsors of this project must be utterly disappointed. Before the international community, Nigeria�s head is once again down and our face covered with shame. �This is a national tragedy. Yet the Obasanjo administration had enough resources at its disposal. It had more than enough time to do the planning. The planning for the census had commenced at least six years before. Indeed the exercise ought to have taken place a year ago, according to the original timetable. It was postponed at the last minute to allow for more time to tighten loose ends as they said. The result of all that and the huge financial commitment of the international community is this wishy-washy exercise.” |
Mar272006