Salutation:

Distinguished ladies and gentlemen,

From the 5th – 18th December, 2015, we carried out the officialcountingof ournation'spopulation and the compilation  of economic, social and otherdata; data that would inform the formulation ofdevelopmentpoliciesand plans; data that would guide the  demarcation of constituenciesforelections.

Over 16,000 field workers were deployed across the country for this exercise. A huge awareness campaign was embarked upon to engender public participation.

But Census is not just about counting our population or collecting different types of data. It is a process that also involves the analysis and evaluation of the data so collected and, of course, the publication and dissemination of the final figures and facts about the country’s demographic, social and economic realities.

We have come a long way in this journey, in providing the baseline data that will continue to serve as a reference point for our development trajectories. Today’s launch of the provisional result of the December 2015 population and housing census is a continuation of that long journey, it is part of the process of publication and dissemination.