The Senate has promised that the much-anticipated population and housing census, scheduled for November this year, will go place as planned.
Speaking on Wednesday in Abuja during the screening of 17 out of 19 commissioner nominees for the National Population Commission (NPC), Chairman of the Senate Committee on National Identity and Population, Senator Abdul Ningi, PDP, Bauchi Central, said that the majority of the nominees were returning.
“It is actually a renomination, and we have perused through their credentials presented in the first instance, compared to the ones they. have just presented,” he said.
Recall that Nigeria has been presenting an estimated figure for the previous several years, since the National Population Commission performed the last census in 2006, yielding a population total of 140 million.
A second census was originally scheduled for 2022 under the government of former President Muhammadu Buhari, but it was ultimately rescheduled for 2023.
A few days before he left office, Buhari, however, announced that the headcount would be halted indefinitely and that President Bola Tinubu would be permitted to choose new dates.
Speaking further, Ningi revealed that Nigeria had not had a population census in the previous 11 years and that carrying out the procedure depended entirely on the government’s political will.
According to the Senator:
“We are almost 11 years without taking the United Nations resolution on population, which comes almost every seven years.
“I am sure with the political will, this is possible, it’s doable, the commission is ready, and the personnel are ready. All we need to do is the announcement by the President that the population census is coming on a date, and once he says it, the international observers will now come in with their support.
“Without the president’s declaration, no one will send a kobo to Nigeria to support the population census. Seventy-five per cent of the logistics, in terms of machines and personnel training, have been completed.
“All we need to do is for the President to have the political will and commitment to say the census is taking place and we cannot postpone it.”
cc: Vanguard Ng
