Stephen Ukandu, Umuahia
President Bola Tinubu, Wednesday, inaugurated the national population and housing census committee with a mandate to submit its interim report within three weeks.
The Committee is chaired by the Minister of Budget and Economic Planning, Senator Atiku Bagudu, while the Chairman of National Population Census, NPC, Nasir Kwarra, is to serve as the Secretary.
Special Adviser on Information & Strategy to the President, Bayo Onanuga, in a statement, said the President was committed to a credible national census for the country.
According to the statement, President Tinubu was represented at the inauguration ceremony by his Chief of Staff, Femi Gbajabiamila.
Tinubu was quoted as saying that “census is crucial for national development, accurate planning, and effective decision-making in healthcare, education, security, and economic planning.”
The President also stressed the pivotal role of a technology-driven process in ensuring credible and verifiable results and the need for collaboration among all relevant agencies and stakeholders.
Tinubu urged the committee members to look at domestic and even international resources.
He said: “Work with all relevant agencies, including the Ministry of Budget and Economic Planning. This ministry has to take charge of this because you cannot budget if you do not know how many of us there are.
“We expect you will touch on the technology area because the census must be technology-driven. Things have changed since the last time that we conducted this exercise. The enumeration has to be technology-driven with biometrics and digitalisation,” he said.
Responding on behalf of the committee, the Chairman, Senator Bagudu, assured the President that the committee will deliver its report within the three-week deadline.
He noted that despite global economic challenges, Nigeria is making steady progress under President Tinubu’s leadership, citing improved foreign exchange stability and a positive growth trajectory.
Senator Bagudu said the committee would recommend practical solutions, including strategies for mobilising domestic and international resources to fund the census.
Adding his voice, the Secretary and NPC boss, Kwarra, said the commission had already begun preparations for the national population and housing census in collaboration with the Ministry of Budget and Economic Planning and other relevant stakeholders.
“The focus has been on identifying key requirements and laying the groundwork necessary for the President to make an informed decision on the actual conduct of the census,” the NPC boss said.
Kwarra assured Nigerians that the NPC remained committed to ensuring a credible, technology-driven enumeration that will support effective national planning and development.
Meanwhile, the eight-member committee includes the Minister of Finance and Coordinating Minister of the Economy, the Chairman of the Federal Inland Revenue Service, the Director General of the National Identity Management Commission, the Principal Secretary to the President, and the Senior Special Assistant to the President on Administration and Operations (Office of the Chief of Staff).
Ikengaonline recalls that Nigeria’s last census was conducted in 2006 during the administration of ex-President Olusegun Obasanjo.
According to the exercise, Nigeria has a population of 140,431,790, with 71,345,488 males and 69,086,302 females.
Unfortunately, the exercise was met with strict resistance in the South-East by the Movement for the Survival of the Sovereign State of Biafra, MASSOB, which asked its members to boycott it.
As a result of the boycott by MASSOB, states in the South-East were under- counted, and the figures generated have remained a subject of debate.
