The National Population and Housing Census, earlier scheduled for this year, may not be held as planned, as indications are rife that the Tinubu administration is not resolute on conducting the exercise this year.
It would be recalled that the National Population Commission (NPC) had initially scheduled a census to be conducted in 2022 after the 2006 population figure of 140 million, by former President Muhammadu Buhari-led administration.
However it was ultimately rescheduled for April 2023 and later postponed till further notice with the hope that President Bola Tinubu’s adminisration would conduc the census.
But while speaking with the an NPC Commissioner on Friday, revealed that the body was not considering holding the census in 2023, noting that President Tinubu was still needed to provide a date.
The NPC Commissioner added that when they presented to Tinubu, he pledged to get in touch with the Commission again.
However, President Bola Tinubu has the best information about when things can be done. We made a presentation to him. He promised to study the presentation and revert to the commission afterward.
“Most of the preparatory activities we must do have been done. We have started the training, and once we have a nod, we shall continue with our training process.
“On our part, we are not looking at conducting a census this year. We are already in November.
“Even the training process requires more than two months to complete. We expect that there will be adequate budgetary provisions to conclude the process. But as soon as the president gives the nod, we will know how many months that we require to complete the process.
