The Director-General of 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.
The aide to Governor Seyi Makinde received the decorations when he visited the NPC chairman in office in Abuja, the Federal Capital Territory (FCT), on Monday.
Ajani disclosed, in a statement, that his visit to the NPC Headquarters was consequent upon the good works of the Commission which was in line with the mandate given to him by Governor Makinde.
He said the governor 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 alot of wisdom to coordinate, adding “as we are approaching census year, Oyo State, as a pace setter, should take the lead.”
He said, in order to adequately plan as a government, the demography of the people must be taken into consideration and stressed the need for more advocacy in local languages in order to sensitise the people.
Ajani requested areas of opportunities that Oyo State government and indigenes can tap into, list of indigenes of the state working as civil servants at a directorate level in the commission and also made an appeal for accelerated resolve of all pending population census issues with the state.
Ajani said the Commissioner representing Rivers State in the NPC expressed gladness for the support and encouragement received from the government of Oyo State, noting that population census exercise requires efforts beyond the Commission and solicited for more robustness among other federating units in the country.
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 Governor 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 Governor Makinde in Ibadan, the Oyo State capital.
“The Commissioner representing Oyo State couldn’t contain his excitement expressed his delight, saying Oyo State now living up to its name as a truly pacesetter state,” Ajani stated in the statement.
He said the Commissioner highlighted some of the achievements of Governor Makinde’s government in the last three and half years and thanked Ajani for the initiative which, according to him, would further concretise the relationship between the Commission and Oyo State.
“He suggested the need to establish working committees set up across all the states before the census year,” Ajani added.
The NPC boss, Honourable Kwarra, in his remarks, expressed appreciation to Ajani and his team for the initiative and declared that the visit was a welcome development, just as he urged other states to emulate Makinde’s aide.
Kwarra said Ajani’s visit has given the Commission the green light to visit Oyo state and hinted that the Commission had been working very hard to provide socio-demographic data for planning purpose for the Federal Goverment.
Kwarra, however, highlighted some of the programmes embarked upon ahead of the forthcoming population census.
These, he said, 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 about two million youths to be engaged in the process, and solicited for more support from state governments across the country.
