On the 2023 population census

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President Muhammadu Buhari has announced the indefinite postponement of the proposed population and housing census, which was scheduled to take place this month. This is coming on the heels of two earlier postponements by the outgoing administration.

Some political commentators questioned the government’s decision to hold a census in 2023. One reason is that it makes zero financial sense to hold two money-consuming projects (elections and the census) in a year. The Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC), spent over N300 billion to conduct the recently concluded polls. The pre-census expenditure alone by the National Population Commission (NPC), on the proposed census, is almost N300 billion. That is over N600 billion put together. Another reason is that both projects are highly contentious and divisive, and there is a need to heal properly from one, before engaging in the other. If not, we risk a conflagration, which might lead to unnecessary deaths and undermine the credibility of the exercise.

Every census in Nigeria since the first in 1866 has been controversial and disputed. The colonialists carried out different censuses, largely for the purpose of estimating tax revenue. It was shunned by most of the natives who lived in the hinterlands. After independence, censuses were seen as measures to determine the allocation of political power and economic resources. This led to inflated figures in different regions of the country. In 1973, the figures were so ridiculous that the chairman of the body tasked with organizing the census, Sir Adetokumbo Ademola, petitioned the Head of State, General Yakubu Gowon, to disregard them. To avoid the tension generated by previous censuses, there were no provisions for religion or ethnicity in the 1991 or 2006 censuses.

Ordinarily, we ought to have a census every 10 years. The last census was held in 2006. Another should have been held in 2016. But the Buhari administration was unable to pool resources together within a year of assuming power to do the needful.

Population census is critical to development. It is important to modern socio-economic planning and should not be treated with levity. The incoming administration should take it seriously, starting with the intensive mobilization of citizens through the Federal Ministry of Information, the National Orientation Agency (NOA), and collaboration with state and local governments. All hands must be on deck to deliver a credible census.