Mr Akuamoa Boateng, the Kumasi Metropolitan Assembly (KMA) Co-ordinating Director, has charged officials who will be engaged in the upcoming national housing and population census to exhibit great diligence in their duties.

They should be professional and work to collect quality data that would be of great importance to the socio-economic development of the nation.

Speaking at a training workshop for some selected census officials in Kumasi, Mr Boateng said the success of the national programme hugely depended on how they would conduct themselves during the exercise.

There was, therefore, the need for them to equip themselves with the requisite knowledge and skills that would help them discharge their duties efficiently.

He stressed the need for all Ghanaians to actively take part in the census and make themselves available for counting to enable the government to have accurate and reliable national data for development.

Mr Boateng pointed out that the government's interest was to have the total number of people living in the country to enable it to plan and deliver goods and services to all citizens.

Mr Francis Ahiamatah, Deputy Chief Trainer at the Ghana Statistical Service, urged the trainers, who have been engaged to train the numerators and other officials of the national population and housing census, to make sure to follow the appropriate guidelines in their training exercises.

They should use the right language, be polite and exhibit good understanding of the work they were supposed to do to help ensure the success of the exercise.

Dr Kobina Abaka Ansah, Ashanti Regional Statistician, said all information taken from citizens would be confidential and appealed to the people not to be afraid and come out to provide whatever information required from them.