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The Director-General, Oyo State Liaison Office, Abuja and Lagos, Hon. Wale Ajani, has been decorated as a census ambassador by the Chairman, National Population Commission (NPC), Honourable Nasir Isa Kwarra.
Ajani was decorated when he visited Kwarra at the NPC headquarters in Abuja, on Monday.
The Director-General said that his visit to the NPC was consequent upon the good works of the commission, which was in line with the mandate given to him by Governor Seyi Makinde.
He said Makinde mandated him to reach out to key federal Ministries, Departments and Agencies (MDAs) and other critical stakeholders that could key into the Oyo development agenda in order to build more synergy and robust collaborations.
Ajani noted that issues of population were contentious and required a lot of wisdom to coordinate.
“As we are approaching census year, Oyo State as a pacesetter should take the lead,” he said.
Ajani maintained that, in order to adequately plan as a government, the demography of the people must be taken into consideration, stressing the need for more advocacy in local languages in order to sensitise the people.
He however, requested areas of opportunities that Oyo State Government and indigenes can tap into, list of Oyo State indigenes working as civil servants at a directorate level in the commission as well an appeal for accelerated resolve of all pending population census issues with Oyo State.
According to Ajani, the Commissioner representing Rivers State in his remarks, expressed his gladness to the support and encouragement received from the government of Oyo State, noting that population census exercise require efforts beyond the commission and solicited for more robustness among other federating units in the country.
While commending Ajani for his giant strides in deepening the existing relationship Oyo State has with federal MDAs and critical stakeholders, the Commissioner representing Ogun State thanked Makinde’s aide for being the first to extend the gesture of a courtesy visit to the commission. She however, requested for an official meeting between the commission and Makinde in Ibadan.
The Commissioner representing Oyo State, who couldn’t contain his excitement, said Oyo State is now living up to its name as a pacesetter state.
He highlighted some of the achievements of Makinde’s government in the last three and half years in office and thanked Ajani for the initiative, which according to him would further solidify the relationship between the commission and Oyo State.
He suggested the need to establish working committees across all the states before the census year.
In his remarks, the NPC boss, Kwarra, expressed appreciation to Ajani and his team for the initiative, saying that the Director General’s visit was a welcome development and urged other states to emulate Makinde’s aide.
He added that Ajani’s visit has given the commission the green light to visit Oyo State, adding that the commission had been working very hard to provide socio-demographic data for planning purpose for the Federal Government.
Kwarra highlighted some of the programmes embarked upon ahead of the forthcoming population census. The programmes include pre-census tests to prepare the officers ahead and modify the process; retreats to examine the process; launch of compendium of localities at the state level; launch of e-recruitment portal for one to two million youths to be engaged in the process.
He solicited for more support from state governments across the country.