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From Juliana Taiwo-Obalonye, Abuja
President Bola Tinubu is to announce new dates for the national population and housing census that was postponed in April.
This is as he has expressed disappointment with the delay in conducting national census 17 years after it was conducted in 2006.
The president who expressed his unwavering support for the National Population Commission (NPC) to conduct an accurate Population and Housing Census in the country, however, stressed the need for data integrity.
He who stated this after a briefing from NPC Chairman, Nasir Kwarra, yesterday, urged the commission to be prudent in their assignment and work towards producing census data that would be credible and reliable.
The president was quoted as urging the NPC to view the delay as an opportunity to cash in on the advantages of the current electronic and digital age.
“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 time of disaster. I have listened to you and we will support you. Accuracy and integrity of your data is very important to Nigerians and for our national economic development programmes. We will support you but you have to be prudent and be determined to make a name for yourself. Goodluck,” he said.
The NPC Chairman informed the president 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. He said these had necessitating the postponement of the exercise by his predecessor.
Responding to questions from State House Correspondents, Kwarra disclosed that President Tinubu would personally announce new dates for the national population and housing census that was postponed last April.
He said the President is expected to study the report submitted and come to an informed decision of when the exercise would be held nationwide. He hinted that the Commission might have to make more requests for financial provision, pointing out that the longer the exercise is delayed, the more likely to expand its financial needs.
In his brief on the Implementation status of the 2023 Population and Housing Census, he requested 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 sommission, saying they were waiting on the president to support NPC and give the go-ahead for the conduct of the census.
He said the commission had demarcated the entire country, stating that only one or the two places were left and that this would be done soon. Kwarra said the commission had also trained 60,000 instructors that would further train enumerators and supervisors.
The NPC boss also requested the release of the N31 billion capital allocation, in the 2023 budget, for preparatory activities.
He put the total cost of the Census, after a methodology review, at N546.72 billion.
Kwarra also requested the president’s approval for an additional N225.2 billion to cover training and fieldwork allowances, retraining of trainers, and the conduct of a second-class trial census.
Tinubu was also asked to approve and convene a stakeholders meeting with the organized private sector and foreign partners to galvanise funds for the census.
