Sierra Leone kicks off its 5th population, housing census

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Sunday 06 Dec 2015 - 16:03 Makkah mean time-24-2-1437 President Ernest Bai Koroma (Image from Internet) Freetown (IINA) – Sierra Leone’s President Ernest Bai Koroma launched the country's 5th population census on Friday.  The enumeration exercise was launched with much pomp and ceremony at the Bintumani International Conference Center with a keynote address by Koroma. Due to the initiative, Koroma had cancelled his planned trip to South Africa for the China-Africa Summit in Johannesburg on Friday and Saturday The Launch of the Census Night marks the commencement of Sierra Leone’s census, starting from Saturday 5th to 18th December. In his speech, Koroma encouraged all citizens to fully cooperate with the census officials and to fulfil their obligation to provide correct and accurate information for better planning. He recalled in May 2012, when he made a declaration for the conduct of a national population and housing census, which was scheduled to be held in December 2014, but was postponed to December 2015 due to the Ebola outbreak in May that year. It was therefore imprudent to conduct a census in the heat of Ebola, he said. He also explained that immediately after his announcement, government started mobilizing the resources needed for the exercise. Koroma added that Statistics Sierra Leone was ready to conduct an enumeration for the 2015 Housing and Population Census. He pointed out that the data collected during the census will not only tell how many people are in the country but will also provide the necessary data to analyze the composition, the distribution and the prospective growth of the population of Sierra Leone. President Koroma said all staying within the borders of Sierra Leone will be counted in the census, noting that conducting a Population and Housing Census is the most expensive thing a government can undertake. AB/IINA