Census must hold this year, senate tell NPC

The Senate has charged the National Population Commission (NPC) to ensure that a national census is held this year in order to change the reliance on “trial and error projections.”

They made the declaration on Tuesday during a budget defence session of the ministry on the 2025 budget.

The lawmakers said it was unacceptable that the lack of a head count in the past 19 years is turning Nigeria to a laughing stock in the comity of nations.

They also expressed displeasure that there is no credible data for proper planning in Nigeria as what is in use now is “trial and error projections.”

Speaking at the meeting chaired by Sen. Abdul Ningi (PDP Bauchi Central), Senator Diket Plang (APC Plateau Central), lamented, “I feel very bad that we are still living on estimated population figures. I feel bad that we are still postulating and relying on data supplied by foreign bodies which is more or less demeaning us among comity of Nations.

“We want to know our population. Nigeria should be counted this year,” he said .

Similarly, the Vice Chairman of the Committee, Senator Olalere Oyewumi (PDP, Osun West), who is also the Deputy Minority Leader of the Senate, directed the NPC to put in everything in place for the population headcount to hold this 2025 as 2026 will be too close to 2027 general election.

In his remarks, Sen. Ningi said the committee will write President Tinubu on the need for the exercise to hold this year.

Responding , the NPC Chairman disclosed that the President is positvely disposed to the population head count but wants it done biometrically for accuracy.

He stated, “President Bola Tinubu is obviously on the same page with members of this committee on the need for population head count but the assignment he has given us is that all machineries and facilities should be put in place for the very important exercise to be done biometrically in a way that at the end of the day, nobody will say fishes were counted in the riverine areas and cows counted in the North.”

On the 2024 budget performance, the NPC boss said total budget was N12.7billion, out of which N1.17billion was for capital vote, N818.9million for overhead and N10.8billion for personnel cost.

For 2025, N18.2billion was allocated, out of which N1.17billion is for overhead and N17.7billion for capital.