Hello, I'm here! come and count me... Hello?

4 days of the census over and we still have had nobody visit. Actually that's not true, on Wednesday someone came to let us know we would be visited on thursday at 2pm, however no such visit occurred.

Much of my 5½ years in this fair country has been spent handling enumeration exercises like this census. Okay, okay on a much smaller scale, but I think this experience I have, especially of operating in Lagos, means I can make some assessments of the news I've heard from the Newspapers about how the census is going.

Todays newspapers, in particular the Nigerian Guardian Newspaper that happened to be delivered today, have been fairly disparaging about the progress made so far. Basic materials needed to complete the enumeration have not been 'on the ground' for the start of this exercise. Enumerators in Lagos and other States are reporting that there haven't been enough forms available for collecting information and not enough other materials that are required like chalk and indelible ink. Money has not been forthcoming for payment to the enumerators, things appear to be generally badly organised and lacking any coherent structure.

A particular comment I liked came from Lagos State Information and Strategy Commissioner, Dele Alake:

... As at Today, the third day of the exercise, millions of Lagosians are yet to see the enumerators of the National Population Commission.

"Indeed, throughout the Federation, the first and second days have been devoted to the resolution of logistical problems such as payment of the enumerators, distribution of the materials, the discovery of the actual area to be enumerated by the officials and in rare cases, the enumeration of the houses.

The Guardian: Friday, March 24, 2006 - page 7

Lagos State Government have imposed a 3 day daytime curfew (8am - 4pm) to speed up enumeration from Tuesday 21st to Thursday 23rd of March 2006. Federal Government have imposed a further 2 days of 'restriction of movement' for Friday 24th and Saturday 25th of March.

This is a BIG BIG error. The cost of practically shutting down Lagos State alone must surely run into many billions of Naira a day. To shut Lagos, a city with an estimated population of 12-15 million, for this exercise when even the most basic things required are not even ready for day one is utterly foolish. I know many people may write to me now for saying that but let's call a spade a spade here, and don't forget who's putting in most of the financial muscle behind this census. That's right the EU, and therefore much of the blame must land at their feet for funding this project without taking a careful interest in the planning of logistics and procedure.

I stand to be corrected.

I heard that a friend who lives in Ikoyi was enumerated today so there may be hope yet!

Technorati Tags: Lagos, Nigeria, Lagos, Nigeria, census