Tinubu approves the conducting of a national census exercise later this year to help planning

PRESIDENT Bola Tinubu has approved plans for a national census to be conducted later this year as part of plans to enable his government enact policies using reliable statistics that are a genuine reflection of Nigeria's population distribution.

On May 29 this year, President Tinubu assumed office and is faced with a plethora of problems including having a credible population census to work with. Nasir Kwarra, the chairman of the National Population Commission (NPC), said that the president is expected to come to an informed decision of when the exercise would be held nationwide.

He hinted that the commission may be forced to ask for more funding, pointing out that the longer the exercise is delayed, the more likely it generates financial constraints. For now, Nigeria's population distribution lacks credibility, as in the past, it has been doctored to ensure access to government funds.

Mr Kwarra said: “We briefed him fully on the level of our preparedness, the outcomes that we envisage and I’ll like to say that Mr President has graciously approved to support the commission in the conduct of census and our preparatory activities, though we’re not stuck at all but he has given us the courage and the impetus to upscale our preparation. So we’ll continue our preparations and we’ll hear from him eventually, the date that the census will take place because we’ve made a submission to him that he will study before getting back to us.

“But as for the assurance of support, he has given that to us and we thank him immensely for this, for also realising the importance of data for the purpose of national planning and development."