The Federal Commissioner, National Population Commission, NPC, in Kwara state, Alhaji Abdulrazaq Folorunsho Gidado, on Friday, threatened to deal with staff alleged to have extorted members of the public desperate to participate in the ongoing training of functionaries for the census project this year.
According to reports, his threat was sequel to reports that some trainees, including facilitators and specialized personnel, gate-crashed the 10-day training programme of the commission illegally.
Findings by newsmen revealed that the list of 700 functionaries sent to the headquarters in Abuja was inflated.
Gidado, who expressed dismay that the state office of the commission bloated the number of functionaries to be engaged for the training, disclosed that only 700 functionaries were enlisted officially for the training, but the figure has been increased to 900.
He wondered how and where the list was bloated.
The training, going on simultaneously at two centres, Kwara College of Education and Institute of Technology, both in Ilorin, ends on Sunday.
The final list is being finalized by the commission in the state to ascertain those officially screened and qualified to be in the training, leading to anxiety that some of the participants will not be paid their allowances.