The minister of state for budget and national planning, Clement Agba, made this known at an event in Abuja on Monday, March 6.
He said they are seeking donations from Nigerians to conduct the 2023 population and housing census which would cost a whooping N869 billion.
He said,
“The total requirements for this census, including the post-census activities, is N869 billion, this is about 1.88 billion US dollars.
When you hear the numbers, they really look very huge. Censuses all over the world, the average is between four to six dollars. However, in the United States, they spend $16 per person. In Botswana, they spend about $10 per person. So Nigeria’s $6 per person, you’ll agree with me, is very reasonable.
So far, the government has spent 291.5 billion naira which is $632 million. This is about 46 percent of the requirement for the census. I know this time around we’re not just doing only the population census, we’re also doing a housing census.”
Reacting to the report, Yhemo Lee, in a comic video shared on his Instagram page, urged the federal government to scrap the 2023 census exercise.
According to him, it is not ideal for them to spend that ‘outrageous’ amount when they recently spent N355 billion on the 2023 general election.
Watch him speak below,
