Recently, the National Population Commission (NPC) said the 2023 Population and Housing Census would not ask questions on religion and ethnicity. The director of Public Affairs of the Commission, Isiaka Yahaya, noted in a statement that religion and ethnicity are, arguably, important indices in the demographics of any country.
He, however, stated that due to the volatile nature of these items in our national discourse, it was agreed that religion and ethnicity should not be included in the census questionnaire in order to insulate the census process and outcomes from unnecessary controversies.
In an interview with me, the federal commissioner, representing Oyo State and chairman, public affairs committee of the commission, Hon Eyitayo Oyetunji, stated that census taking in many countries is a mere statistical activity, but in Nigeria it is not. Oyetunji noted that census taking in Nigeria has had political implications, adding that the commission cannot approach census in Nigeria to canvass for all the variables.
“We are not saying that religion and ethnic variables are not totally important or relevant, but in the situation we are now, instead of getting involve in a controversy that would impair the whole exercise, we feel that there is enough in the exercise for development and planning.”
Also, speaking in the same vein, the president general of the Supreme Niger Delta Youth Council Worldwide (SNDYCW), Prince Michael Newgent Ekamon told our reporter that including religion and ethnicity in the 2023 census would create unnecessary sentiment among Nigerians, which he noted, might truncate the entire exercise.
Ekamon said the coming population census should be based on individual without reference to ethnicity or religion, adding that other countries, such as the United States or UK do not add ethnicity or religion in their census figures.
“If you bring in religion and ethnicity into the census, it means you are being sentimental and you will not succeed. So, lets forget about religion and lets count the people.”
However, an Abuja-based public affairs analyst, Morgan Mkpu said it is wrong to conduct population census in a country like Nigeria without including religion and ethnicity. “If you exclude ethnicity and religion in census details, then the essence of the entire exercise is defeated, because many Nigerians would want to know the population of the Christians or the Muslims and even their ethnic groups. These figures also help in planning for the country.
“We agree that religion has been a very controversial issue in Nigeria, but it is equally something that we cannot do away with. So, it is imperative that we include religion and ethnicity so that Nigerias can know the number of christians, moslems, Hausas, Yorubas, Igbos and other ethnic groups in Nigeria.”
