By Ibrahim Joenal Sesay
October 22, 2020 (232News)
FREETOWN – Sierra Leone mid-term housing and population census has been shifted to April 19, 2021.
This was disclosed by Prof. Osman Sankoh, Statistician General and Chief Census Officer during a press conference to celebrate World Statistics Day.
Statistics Sierra Leone (Stats SL) joined the rest of the world to celebrate this year World Statistics Day which took place yesterday 20th October 2020 at Stats SL headquarters in Freetown with the theme “Connecting the World with Data we can Trust”.
The Statistician General and Chief Census Officer Prof. Osman Sankoh explained that July 21st 2020 President Bio proclaimed the Mid-Term Population and Housing Census to be conducted by Stats SL with the enumeration to commence on December 4, 2020.
He said Stats SL has been making progress on many fronts in the preparations against the proclaimed date.
According to him, they can’t account for 59% of the locality in the country analyses in the 2015 census.
“However, due to the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic and its impact on the planned support from external institutions, the following areas of our preparations have been affected: Movement of high level technical personnel (international consultants); and procurement of digital materials required for the census.”
He pointed out that due to the unavoidable circumstances, Stats SL is constrained to make adjustments to the timeline for the critical activities, including the date of actual enumeration.
While expressing their commitment to make the mid-term population and housing census a very inclusive and transparent process so that it can produce credible data for national development, President Bio, he added has been consented to formally launch the mid-term population and housing census on December 4, 2020.
Speaking about the activities of Stats SL, Moses Williams, Chairman, Stats SL Council described the media as part of Stats SL.
He said in 1964 Stats SL was opened as Central Statistics Office as a way of assisting government in planning.
He pointed out that it started right from household level to the highest level as government needs it to plan for the nation.
“Our major role here is to conduct census. If you want to plan for the people, you must know the actual number.”
Marking World Statistics Day, Andrew Bob Johnny, Deputy Statistician General, said they are celebrating in line with the theme, highlighting the role of statisticians.
He pointed out that they will coordinate activities at national level; show case how their work has responded to the data revolution and the demand for solutions to meet the data demands of sustainable development.
Abdulai Brima Director, Censuses and GIS/National Census Coordinator read the revised timelines on the Mid-Term Population and Housing Census.
