Minister of Information, Mr Kojo Oppong Nkrumah will be chairing a committee the 2020 Population and Housing Census committee.

The committee which was inaugurated in Accra on Thursday, 24 October 2019 has been tasked with the responsibility of publicising, educating and advocating the 2020 Population and Housing Census.

Delivering his inaugural address, Mr Nkrumah who is also the Member of Parliament for Ofoase Ayirebi in the Eastern Region said Ghana, like any other developing nation, has been very conscious of the benefits of censuses and their importance to national development.

He said countries all over the world have depended extensively on census data to guide their planning and monitoring of both national and international policy interventions.

“The 2020 Population and Housing Census is expected to provide a reliable database for policy reviews and ensure systematic improvement in the implementation of the government’s ongoing interventions such as Planting for Food and Jobs, NABCo, LEAP, Youth in Agriculture, among others that may be developed in the course of the next decade,” he added.

He said President Akufo-Addo’s commitment to ensuring a successful conduct of the 2020 population census by the Ghana Statistical Service is not in doubt, following the creation of six new regions and over 40 new districts.

Mr Nkrumah stressed the importance of publicity for a successful census and charged the Ghana Statistical Service and its stakeholders to work together to drive the population to buy into the census programme and help provide the needed information to guide policymaking in Ghana.

The legislator reiterated the government’s support and readiness to provide the requisite resources to enable the Statistical Service and the Publicity Committee to succeed in this national assignment.

The second trial census will begin on 18 November 2019 in parts of the Kpone Katamanso municipality in the Greater Accra Region, parts of the Aowin municipality in the Western North Region, the whole of Ekumfi district in the Central Region and the entire Krachi-Nchumuru district in the Oti Region.