1,000 hackers attack population census server

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Barely one week to a nationwide headcount, at least 1,000 hackers have invaded the National Population Commission (NPC) server.

This may be a way to frustrate the project aimed at obtaining accurate figured for economic planning and other related matters.

Manager at the National Population Commission, NPC, Dr. Inuwa Jalingo, disclosed this l at ‘Bloggers/Social Media Interactive Workshop For A Successful 2023 Population and Housing Census’ in Abuja.

He was fielding questions after presenting his paper entitled: ‘Enumeration Area Demarcation/Process and Methodology of the 2023 Population and Housing Census’.

Jalingo however said the situation had been put under control through “specialised workforce, Information and Communication Technologies (ICT) classes and mop-up phase.”

According to him, the United Nations (UN) recommendations for the 2020 round of censuses specify that countries should leverage digital tool for the conduct of censuses.

“The 2023 PHC – Nigeria’s first Digital Census – will employ innovative digital tools and procedures to improve the census-taking process. These tools have been adopted and integrated into the census processes, including in the Enumeration Area Demarcation (EAD), pretesting of tools, recruitment, data quality management, monitoring and evaluation, project management, communications, main data collection fieldwork monitoring and dissemination.”

He gave the goals of adopting technology in the 2023 PHC as to track and ensure complete coverage of the country during the census; reduce errors in the entire census process including in field data collection; facilitate real-time data transfer for quality checks within the census fieldwork period; reduce timelines and facilitate efficient deployment of resources improve field management and facilitate monitoring of workflows; ensure timely publication of census results.

Jalingo said, “The key 2023 Nigeria PHC tools that are digital or technology-aided include Census Mapping Tools, Census Field Data Collection Tools, Recruitment Portal, Enumeration Dashboard, Logistics Management Data Quality Management, Quality Assurance (QA), Monitoring and Evaluation Training, Project Management, Call Centre and Situation Room.”