By Bashir Hassan
The head of Unguwar Matawalle, a community in Miri Ward of Bauchi metropolis, has pledged his commitment to embrace all population related initiatives aimed at improving the living standards of members of the community.
The head of the community, Mallam Lawal Umar and some members of Unguwar Matawalle made the pledge at the weekend during an advocacy and sensitization visit carried out by the Nigeria Population Matters Initiative (NPMI).
While expressing the delight of his community people to the Population Matters team for choosing his Uguwar Matawalle in carrying out their advocacy and sensitization, Mallam Umar agreed that, having an accurate census data in any community would make Government and donor partners take informed decisions in coming to their aid in the provision of social amenities and open up the community to more development.
He called on the team to also use resources at its disposal to fast track the conduct of the census, while also assuring the team of his community’s full support to ensure the successful implementation of the project.
Earlier in their Advocacy messages, the Nigeria Population Matters team said that the visit was aimed to introduce the population matters initiative and emphasized the significance of accurate population data in securing adequate funding and support for communities, as well as conducting population censuses.
According to the NPMI team lead, Ms. Comfort Attah, the initiative does not only stop at census data alone, but also to propagate the importance of child birth control in mitigating family hardships caused by large family sizes.
Attah explained that, at the moment Nigeria is still relying on the 2006 population census for decision-making, which no longer reflects the country's rapidly growing population.
"Accurate and up-to-date census data is essential for fair fund allocation, community development and for attracting international aid", said Attah.
The team also highlighted that controlling population growth through birth control is critical to easing the burden on families struggling to meet basic needs.
Lending his voice on the advocacy visit, another member of the Community, Mallam Yusus Jibrin said that the community is in dire need of infrastructural development like feeder roads that will help them convey their farm produce to the market. He equally noted that the importance of population data will help manage child births better.
Our correspondent observed the zeal and enthusiasm demonstrated by most of the community members, promising to lend their support for the success of the census when the time comes.
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