President Muhammadu Buhari’s postponement of the 2023 population and housing census, earlier scheduled for May 3-7, to a date to be determined by the incoming administration, is a welcome development. The national population census is not an exercise to be taken in a hurry or for the fun of it. Having an accurate population census is critical to the development of any nation.
The Minister of Information and Culture, Lai Mohammed, who spoke on the issue, disclosed that Buhari gave the approval for the postponement after meeting with some Federal Executive Council members and the National Population Commission Chairman and his team at the Presidential Villa in Abuja on April 28.
According to the minister, in arriving at the decision, the meeting reiterated the critical need for the conduct of a population and housing census, 17 years after the last census, to collect up-to-date data that will drive the developmental goals of the country and improve the living standard of the Nigerian people.
This is the second time the headcount would be shifted. The original schedule was for March 29, before it was shifted to May. The May date was necessitated by the postponement of the Governorship and State Assembly elections by the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) from March 11 to 18.
Earlier, there had been calls from some quarters for the postponement of the census for reasons that included inadequate preparation, lack of funds, lack of training of supervisors for the exercise, timing and insecurity, among other things.
The postponement of the census is a welcome development. Apart from the timing being inauspicious, the outgoing government won’t have enough time and resources to conduct a credible national population and housing census. While the census is long overdue, there is need for adequate planning and mobilisation for the exercise to be seamless, credible and acceptable.
The results of our past national census exercises had been contentious. Some of them had been rejected by some sections of the country. There had been serious misconception on what the exercise represented and its purpose. With the possible exception of the fairly acceptable 1921 population census, subsequent enumeration exercises had been controversial. The 1929-1931 enumeration was considered inaccurate because of the economic depression of the period and misinterpretation of the exercise as a basis for taxation, leading to riots in some parts of the country. There was no census in 1941 because of the Second World War. Another census was conducted in 1962, but the results were rejected and considered incorrect, hence the 1963 head-count. Results of the 1963 exercise were accepted by the Federal Government, but rejected by the regions. In 1973, another enumeration took place but the results were not published. The last detailed census in Nigeria was in 2006, which put the population of Nigerians at 140,003,542. Since then, the country’s population figure has been on estimates from UN agencies. This does not give room for adequate planning and development.
Therefore, the next population census exercise should avoid the mistakes of past ones and arrive at a figure acceptable to all Nigerians. Already, N869 billion has been earmarked for the project that would be conducted in partnership with various development partners, including the United Nations Population Agency (UNFPA) and European Union (EU) and others. UNFPA would provide significant technical and financial support as well as manage funds established for the redemption of pledges.
On its part, the National Population Commission (NPC) has listed a total of 786,741 functionaries to be trained and deployed for the exercise. This includes 623,797 enumerators, 125,944 supervisors, 24,001 Data Quality Assistants, 12,000 Field Coordinators, 1,000 Data Quality Managers, 1,639 Training Centre Administrators and 59,000 Local Government Areas level facilitators.
The Chairman of the Commission, Nasir Isa Kwarra, has promised to deploy fool-proof technology for the process, stressing that it would be different from the previous ones, which were riddled with controversies. The commission will deploy state-of-the-art technology, including Global Positioning System (GPS) and satellite images to ensure the accuracy of the figures. Kwarra added that every building in the country has already been coded for the purpose and vowed that nobody would be counted more than once.
Since the exercise has been postponed, the incoming administration will have enough time for its planning and seamless execution. Conducting a credible census requires that all hands should be on deck. There has to be synergy between the NPC and the government on the project.
Whatever technology that is needed to achieve a successful headcount should be explored and adapted. Let the organisers study how other countries conduct theirs and arrive at exact and acceptable figures. The ultimate aim is to conduct a reliable census for proper planning and national development. Nigeria cannot continue to do with an estimated figure for its population.