2023 census: NPC server has not been hacked - Commission

The National Population Commission has affirmed that the Server of the Commission that has been prepared for the 2023 Population and Housing census was never hacked despite several attempts by hackers to invade the server.

The Federal Commissioner in charge of Kogi State, Prof. Jimoh Isah who revealed this on Tuesday during a press conference in Lokoja said over 1000 attempts had been made by hackers on the server without success.

Prof. Isah stated that the commission has been able to learn from the incident that happened to INEC and has such had fortified and secured the server from hackers.

Isah added that the server is one of the most important aspects of the census and the need to protect it from being hacked is of great importance.

“In the time past, censuses have been conducted using paper and pen but this time, the census will be conducted using electronic means such that once the information is gotten, it will go directly to the server”.

“As against lies and rumours that have been peddled, National Population Commission Server has never been hacked because we have never rested and we won’t rest until the program becomes successful.

“Apart from our actions against Hackers and intruders, we have been able to conduct a series of training for different stakeholders of the commission including the Federal Commissioners. The recent training for Federal Commissioners was held in Port Harcourt while the state directors and other officials of the commission are undergoing continuous training”.

Prof. Isah explained that the need to take the census seriously becomes important because it is a tool for national development.

“No serious government is supposed to take census as a joke. Any serious-minded government should take the population and housing census as an issue of key interest”.

Isah revealed that the leadership of the commission will also be meeting with the federal government at the Federal Executive Council meeting on Wednesday (today) to brief the executive arm of the government about the level of preparedness.

While speaking on the genuineness of the exercise, Isah assured residents and citizens of Kogi state that the census exercise will be transparently conducted and the fear of increasing the number of a segment of the state or reducing the counted number of another part of the state will not occur.

He added that being a citizen of the state from the Ebira extraction will never prompt him to favour any part of the state or even the people from his own community.

The federal commissioner revealed that special provisions have been made by the population commission to ensure that far-reaching places are captured during the headcount. He revealed that the commission has been able to procure speedboats for places like Ibaji and Bassa LGAs that are surrounded by water.

He added that sensitive issues like religion, language and ethnicity have been removed from the templates because of crises and clashes that are associated with the aforementioned in some parts of the country.