Census Desirable, Not Imperative Now, MBF Tells Tinubu

The Middle Belt Forum (MBF) has called on President Bola Ahmed Tinubu not to conduct a census now until insecurity is reduced.

According to the middle belt forum, many Nigerians have been displaced especially in their area.

A statement issued by the national president of the Middle Belt Forum, Dr Pogu Bitrus, said their attention was drawn to Thursday’s visit to the Presidential Villa by the chairman of the National Population Commission (NPC) Alhaji Nasir Kwarra where he disclosed that President Bola Ahmed Tinubu would soon fix new dates for the 2023 national population and housing census that was suspended by former President Muhammadu Buhari.

He said the suspension of the exercise by the former administration came on the heels of protests by Internally Displaced Persons (IDPs), mostly in the Middle Belt, that conducting the census with some of them in various IDPs camps, would amount to excluding them from the exercise, among other reasons.

He added that the MBF is completely averse to the position of the NPC when viewed against the current level of insecurity plaguing the country, especially in the Middle Belt, saying that for the headcount to be successful and achieve its aims, the security of lives and overall security must be guaranteed.

He said no nation ever conducts population and housing census when some territories have been overrun and occupied by dreaded foreign terrorists, with millions of her citizens displaced by vicious and bloodthirsty criminals ravaging the country. The group referred specifically to terror attacks on some Middle Bet communities where defenceless and law-abiding citizens have been killed in the last one decade, with no succour coming their way.

He noted that in Southern Borno, for instance, Boko Haram elements have carried out attacks on communities, forcing inhabitants to flee their ancestral land for safety, saying that some of these citizens, who have been traumatised and turned into refugees in their own country and other neighbouring countries, are yet to return to their communities in the last 10 years.

He said in some states like Plateau, Niger, Benue, and Kaduna, communities have been decimated, with thousands of people chased out of their ancestral lands and in clear demonstration of illegalities, these foreign occupiers of these towns have renamed these communities under the watch of security forces. He added that despite the condemnation and outcries against forceful eviction of citizens from their natural habitation, the dream of fleeing indigenous people returning to their communities is still a mirage.

According to him if the census goes ahead as planned without resolving the present security challenges and returning the IDPs to their communities, legitimacy would be conferred on the vicious brigands that have continued to carry out genocidal attacks on defenceless communities. He said no nation, including Nigeria, should conduct a census in troublous times. While not underestimating the relevance of the headcount, the forum called on the federal government to work towards resolving security challenges in order to avoid conducting another census that may be marred in disputes. 

“The MBF is of the strong view that displaced communities living in make-shift habitation must be returned to their ancestral lands, and not be left with the mislaid feeling that they have been abandoned at the mercies of bloodthirsty invaders and criminals. There is no way the NPC can rationalise its call on President Tinubu to fix new dates for the suspended population and housing census when Nigeria is still enmeshed in fighting a war against elements tearing the country apart,” the group said.