NPC Briefs Tinubu, Fixes Date To Conduct National Census

Image: NPC logo

By Ayyuba Haruna, Abuja

The much-awaited National Population and Housing Census will now be held in November 2024, according to the Sunday PUNCH.

Nigeria has been brandishing an estimated figure for the last few years, as the last census was conducted in 2006 by the National Population Commission, which gave a population figure of 140 million.

The immediate past administration of former President Muhammadu Buhari had planned to conduct another census in 2022 but the programme was later moved to 2023.

The exercise was suspended indefinitely by Buhari, a few days before his leaving office, saying that he would allow President Bola Tinubu to announce new dates for the headcount.

Recently, Tinubu pledged his administration’s support for the next census, asserting its importance in crucial aspects of national planning.

Tinubu made the pledge when he launched the Electronic Civil Registration and Vital Statistics System alongside the National Geospatial Data Repository and the National Coordination Committee on CRVS in Abuja on November 8, 2023.

The population remains the greatest asset of the nation in her development process.

“Collecting accurate and reliable information on the size, distribution, composition, and characteristics of the population is an essential governance activity that is consistent with our Renewed Hope Agenda."

According to the Sunday Punch report, President affirmed that, “The commission will therefore be supported in the conduct of the next census,”

But with about six months in office, the President has yet to announce a new date.

Meanwhile, speaking with our correspondent on Saturday, one of the NPC officials who confidently spoke to our correspondent based on anonymity said the census would be held in November next year, adding that the Presidency had been briefed on its budget.

He said, “We have met with the President, and we are already discussing. The presidency has looked at our budget. The census will be conducted in November next year.

“We are finalising the budget to have a common understanding with the presidency,” the official told Sunday Punch.