Ghana industries pledge GH¢24m for national census

The Association of Ghana Industries (AGI) has expressed its readiness to provide an amount of GH¢24 million to support the funding of the 2010 National Census.

The assurance was given by the President of the association, Nana Owusu Afari, in response to an appeal from Dr Kwabena Duffuor, the Minister of Finance and Economic Planning, and Ms Hannah Tetteh, the Minister of Trade and Industry, to the private sector to support the funding of the census, estimated at GH¢70 million.

The government has committed itself to providing about 50 per cent of the funding, while the country’s development partners have pledged to provide 20 per cent, leaving a gap of 30 per cent in the budget for the exercise, which is expected to come off in the last quarter of the year.

At a breakfast meeting organised by the Ministry of Finance in Accra Friday to solicit the support of the private sector towards the exercise, Nana Afari, however, called on the government to package its appeal processes in a way that would be enticing to the private sector.

The meeting was attended by representatives from financial institutions, corporate organisations, industries and enterprises.

Nana Afari commended the government for involving the association in the national data collection, saying that the data, when generated, would help members of the association in their planning processes.

Dr Duffuor said the private sector would gain a lot from a detailed demographic census, adding that most investment decisions and marketing strategies were based on reliable and comprehensive data and information.

He said the government recognised the important role played by the private sector in promoting the development of the country and saw the business community as an indispensable ally in the forthcoming population and housing census.

He, therefore, called on the business community to contribute generously to the conduct of the census.

For her part, Ms Tetteh underlined the need for the country to update its national data, saying today’s market had become competitive and so the business sector needed to have an idea of its target market before it could set up branches.

The Government Statistician, Dr Grace Bediako, who gave an overview of the 2010 Population and Housing Census, said the exercise would capture the geographic and international characteristics, as well as the educational and economic background, of people who would be in the country on the census night.

Other areas that data would be generated, she said, were disability, information and communications technology (ICT), agriculture, housing and community facilities, among others.

She underscored the importance of the 2010 census and said the Ghana Statistical Service (GSS) had so far mapped out 36,500 enumeration areas, comprising 104,500 localities that would be covered during the census.

About 60,000 field officers are expected to be recruited through the internet this month as the beginning of the preparations for the conduct of the 2010 Population and Housing Census.

Source: Daily Graphic