The National Population Commission, NPC, has decried Osun residents’ lack of cooperation during the conduct of the 2023/2024 Nigeria Demographic and Health Survey, NDHS.
The Team Lead, Olusola Karim, while addressing a press conference in Osogbo on Tuesday, said the data collected from the exercise would enable the government to put appropriate plans in place, especially in relation to house demography and health in the country.
While lamenting the apathy and frustration experienced by NPC officials, Karim revealed that NPC officials had visited Ede North and South, Ifelodun and Boripe local government areas of the state, but people refused to cooperate with them.
“The challenge is that our people do not give us the needed attention. They claim some people had already visited them and were not interested since it’s not a census.
“We want to urge the local government and the community people to give us maximum cooperation. This will really help us in our job,” he said.
He called on the leadership of the local government areas to speak to their people to ensure the success of the exercise.
Speaking earlier, the Osun State Director of the NPC, Tinuola Adeboye, said through the survey, high-quality data on a wide range of vital indicators, including fertility rates, maternal and child health, contraceptive use, childhood mortality, gender-related issues, nutrition, HIV/AIDS awareness, and more, would be gathered.
“The survey would provide data supporting the evaluation needs of maternal and child health and family planning programmes, enabling evidence-based planning and resource allocation,” he added.
DAILY POST gathered that NPC commenced the 2023-2024 Nigeria NDHS in all 36 states of the federation and the Federal Capital Territory on December 6, 2023.