Applications of aerial photography to population estimation in Nigeria

For effective planning purposes, reliable and up-to-date statistics on population is very important in any country. However, in Nigeria, population census is such an infrequent exercise that data on city population is not readily available. The inherent data delivery lag time period, between the physical collection and actual publication of the results of censuses contributes to the obsolescency of census data.This situation calls for the development of appropriate techniques of collecting up-to-date population data in Nigeria.The use of aerial photography for collecting certain types of census information has been suggested as a procedure that can successfully supplement existing techniques. Three models viz: (1) the Land Use Model (2) the House Counting Method and (3) the Land Area Method were developed and applied in the estimation of the 1973 population of Ilorin. It is being suggested here that these methods can be employed in making the much needed intercensal population estimation for planning purposes readily available. In addition, this approach is not as sensitive as census per se in Nigeria.