Accra, Aug. 28, GNA - An 18-member publicity and education committee for the 2010 Population and Housing Census was inaugurated in Accra on Friday with a call on members to bring their expertise to bear on the success of the programme.

Mrs Zita Okaikwei, Minister of Information, who made the appeal, asked members to see their role as critical to the country's development efforts.

The census will be held in March 2010 to determine the country's population to inform development decision making.

The exercise is estimated to cost about $50 million and would provide demographic and socio-economic data on all metropolitan, municipal and districts to enhance planning at all levels. It is also expected to provide basic data for indicators on education, national income and health, among others, to enable policy makers to efficiently design appropriate remedies for each sector. Mrs Okaikwei, who also chairs the committee, said the availability of quality statistical data was important for development planning and the monitoring of the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs).

It is in this direction, she said, that government was committed to ensuring that all logistics needed for the 2010 exercise were made available for a successful exercise.

She said government would bear 50 per cent of the cost of the census to send signals that it was serious about the exercise and appealed to the country's development partners to support and commit funds towards it.

Dr Grace Bediako, Government Statistician, said Ghana Statistical Service (GSS) would engage 45,000 field personnel to help it to conduct the exercise.

She said the service would draw on experience and commitment of teachers, national service personnel, graduates of the polytechnics and universities for the exercise.

Dr Bediako expressed the hope that the publicity committee would provide the technical expertise in educating the public for the success of the census.