UMUAHIA –– THE National Population Commission, NPC, has ruled out the possibility of reviewing upwards the stipend approved for ad-hoc staff engaged by the commission for next year’s head count. The clarification, followed complaint by some of the staff that what was approved for them was very meagre.
Some of the staff who spoke when the NPC Chairman, Chief Samuila Makama addressed them at their training centre in Umuahia wanted the commission to increase the stipend in view of what they described as the hazardous nature of the work.
But the chairman informed them that money for the exercise has already been budgeted and that the commission cannot make any demand for additional funds now. He, however said that there is the possibility of paying what he called "differential honorarium" based on the location of the staff in some states.
"I am not making any promise but I want to assure you that we are addressing the issue," he stated, adding that "for now, the stipend remains exactly what has been approved." The chairman, however reminded the trainees that they were the privileged few chosen from multitude of applicants and urged them to focus their mind towards ensuring the success of the exercise next year.
According to him, the total census budget is N34.4 billion out of which the international donor agencies were assisting the commission with N17.5 billion. The money, he explained, is not coming to the account of NPC, but would be channelled to payment for enumerators in November/December next year, while the balance of N17 billion would be used for the purchase of equipment and materials.
He also said that in this year’s budgets, government appropriated N5 billion out of the amount, hoping that the balance would be put in next year’s budget.
His words: "The problem is that NPC has been neglected since the 1991 census. There has not been much funding and as a result, all the structures and facilities in the state offices have deteriorated. The reason for this is that previous administrations saw NPC only as an office for census taking. But it is much more than that. There are several activities that the commission is involved in which should attract funding on a regular basis."
He explained that with the availability of funds, the commission would soon mount seven data processing centres and install new computers, while all state offices would rehabilitated and staff welfare improved.
![[Image]](http://news.biafranigeriaworld.com/..\..\..\images\vlogo.gif){kind=small}
