President Bola Ahmed Tinubu has expressed his unwavering support for the National Population Commission (NPC) to conduct an accurate Population and Housing Census in the country.
He, however, emphasised the need for the commission to be prudent in their assignment and work towards producing census data that would be credible and reliable.
Speaking at the State House in Abuja after he received a briefing from NPC chairman, Nasir Isa Kwarra, the president in a statement by presidential spokesman expressed concern over the delay in conducting another enumeration in the country since the last exercise done in 2006.
He urged the NPC to view this delay as an opportunity to cash in on the advantages of the current electronic and digital age.
‘’It is disappointing that up until now we have not been able to conduct another enumeration of our people. I hope that this delay will be converted to a great opportunity in this electronic and digital age.
‘’The challenge is yours and I hope that during the demarcation you did, you would have noticed the migration of people to urban centers because of the extreme poverty and unemployment.
‘’Digitalising the process will make your job easier and I don’t see why we don’t, by now, have a reliable database in Nigeria to identify ourselves and ascertain our numbers for planning purposes and in times of disaster.
In his remarks, the NPC chairman noted that the Commission was on the verge of conducting the final training for the Census before they were caught up with the transition programme for a new government and funding challenges, necessitating the postponement of the exercise by the immediate-past President.
He briefed the president on the Implementation Status of the 2023 Population and Housing Census, requesting the issuance of a proclamation for a new Census date later this year or early next year.
Kwarra also highlighted the funding challenges faced by the Commission, saying they were waiting on the President to support NPC and give the go-ahead for the conduct of the census.
In a paper titled “Implementation Status of the 2023 Population and Housing Census,” the NPC requested the release of the allocated N31 billion capital allocation, in the 2023 budget, for preparatory activities.
The commission put the total cost of the census, after a methodology review, at N546.72 billion.
