2018 Census not feasible ―Ozekhome

A Senior Advocate of Nigeria, SAN and Human right Lawyer Mike Ozekhome has advocated for the postponement of the planned 2018 national census, saying that the exercise was not feasible for now because of the 2019 general elections.

Fielding questions from News men in Abuja yesterday on the State of the nation, Ozekhome declared that conducting the census might lead to chaos in the country as it would be too close to the general elections 2019.

He stated that rather, the exercise should be left for the next president to handle in a better way, saying that there was no need to rush the exercise because of its importance to the nation.

According to him, “Conducting a National Census in 2018, I want to state that historical revisionists, those who do not mean well for the country will use it as a stimulant to disorganize Nigeria, so that elections do not even hold in 2019.”

“So I totally agree that whosoever emerges as the next President, one of the first tasks, he should immediately embark upon is to quickly have a head count.”

“If we have not done it for more than ten years, there is no reason to rush it between now and 2019, because I can assure you that serious politicking would have commenced.”

“You know Nigeria is known for politicking and not governance. In the first two years, we have already finished governance and we start politicking again.”

Also speaking on the state of the nation, Ozekhome stated that “the nation is currently suffering from stunted growth, adding that there is a need for Nigerians to brace up to the challenge.”

“As a nation, we have regressed farther from that position, we are now in a worst state than we were in the last twenty years and the standard of living to the knowledge of every Nigeria has deteriorated, thus putting us in a state of abject penury not just poverty.”

He therefore called on President Muhammadu Buhari to implement the 2014 national confab report adding that the report if implemented would bring solutions to challenges currently facing the nation.

On the issue of recovered various huge sums of money by the

Economic and Financial Crime Commission (EFCC), he called for caution in the way and manner the anti-corruption agency was handling the matter.