Why census didn’t hold by NPC boss

THE outgoing chairman of the National Population Commission, Mr Eze Duruiheoma, has attributed the inability of the Commission to conduct the much anticipated national census exercise during his tenure to failure of President Muhammadu Buhari to declare proclamation for the exercise.

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Duruiheoma spoke at a valedictory service held for him at the Commission’s headquarters in Abuja. He took over from a former Chairman, Mr Festus Odimegwu who, in 2013, resigned his appointment.

He, therefore, called on the Federal Government to amend the Census Act to make provision for the conduct of census every 10 years in line with the United Nations(UN) recommendations.

He equally advocated for a provision for annual incremental budgetary allocations for the next census immediately after the last, so as to reduce the financial burden of accommodating the huge census budget in a fiscal year.

Duruiheoma, who lamented that since his appointment in 2013, the Commission was unable to conduct the overdue census exercise, further noted that there was massive shortfall in funding during his tenure, which adversely affected the implementation of the robust plans of the Commission.

He said, “the Commission experienced serious shortfall in funding throughout my tenure. It is obvious that census is the most complex and extensive statistical data gathering exercise any country can embark upon  and it is capital intensive.

“The lack of adequate funding for the key operations of the Commission limited or completely stalled the implementation of he robust  plans to meet  its mandate during my tenure,” he said.

While describing this as a major challenge, Duruiheoma explained that the absence of proclamation for the census also limited supports from development partners who were willing to key into the project.

“Some major challenges experienced need mentioning. In addition to the paucity of funds, there were other challenges for example, lack of federal government proclamation for the census to facilitate the buy-in of other stakeholders into the census project especially the development partners by supporting with funds and materials,” he explained.

In view of this, he stressed the need to set up machinery in motion to secure Federal Government’s proclamation for the next census and increased funding to the commission.