The National Population Commission on Friday denied insinuations that the 2023 population and housing census was postponed due to a lack of funds to execute the project. It said the exercise was shifted to save Nigeria from trouble.
NPC Federal Commissioner, Plateau State, Mrs Cecilia Dapoet, said this during a meeting with stakeholders in Jos, the state capital.
She stated, “The census was earlier scheduled for May 3 to 7, 2023 but was postponed, giving rise to insinuations in the public space regarding the reason for the postponement and these, even though were mere speculations, had been given much media attention.
“The commission is compelled to take necessary steps to correct the impression that the 2023 population and housing census is postponed because of lack of funds. The real reason is not money, but the government’s transition programme and post-election mood in the country. We all saw the cloud of uncertainty that hung above the nation after the elections and were careful not to fall into some pitfalls and plunge the country into more trouble. We could not take things for granted, so we decided to postpone the exercise.”
The commissioner expressed optimism that the postponement would afford the new administration led by President Bola Tinubu to prepare adequately for the exercise.
Dapoet stressed that the NPC would conduct its first digital census, saying handheld devices to be used to capture data had been purchased and safely stored at the Central Bank.
“Presently, we are also getting our new leaders acquainted with the methodology and processes adopted for the current census exercise,” the commissioner noted.
The Plateau State Director of the NPC, Mrs Felicia Mwolpun, urged the citizens to cooperate and support the commission to enable it to achieve its goals.
Meanwhile, the Federal Commissioner representing Anambra State at the NPC, Chidi Ezeoke, has also reassured Nigerians of the commission’s preparedness towards delivering on its mandate for the census.
Speaking in Awka, on Friday during a one-day breakfast meeting with the media, he said the interaction was aimed at enlightening members of the public with a view to carrying the people along on the reason for the postponement of the exercise and the need for them to make themselves available when the new date is announced.
Ezeoke added, “We are laying the foundation in this forthcoming census being the first ever digital type in the country. We are hoping the new government will take advantage of it for proper planning and development. This census is not just going to be a counting of heads, but houses and institutions.
The Anambra State Commissioner for Information, Paul Nwosu, described as a welcome development the postponement of the population and housing census, saying if the census had been held as earlier scheduled, it would have resulted in a stampede.
He added, “Census is not something you do in a hurry. I want to believe that when the Census will be held eventually, it will be holistic and done the way our counterparts hold theirs.”
