Buhari hands off 2023 census

Outgoing President Muhammadu Buhari has again postponed the 2023 Population and Housing Census, a few days before its scheduled commencement.

Buhari announced the postponement at a meeting with some members of the Federal Executive Council (FEC) and the chairman of the National Population Commission with his team at the Presidential Villa in Abuja, on Friday.

He said the exercise would now be conducted by the incoming administration even as preparation would still be ongoing to achieve its success.

“The President further directed the Commission to continue with preparations for the conduct of the 2023 Population and Housing Census in order to sustain the gains already recorded and provide the basis for the incoming administration to consolidate these achievements,” the outgoing President said in a statement signed by Lai Muhammad, the Minister of Information and Culture.

In arriving at the decision to postpone the census, the meeting reiterated the critical need for the conduct of a Population and Housing Census, 17 years after the last exercise, to collect up-to-date data that will drive the developmental goals of the country and improve the living standard of the Nigerian people.

The president noted that with the completion of the Enumeration Area Demarcation of the country, the conduct of first and second pretests, the recruitment and training of ad-hoc workers, procurement of Personal Digital Assistants (PDAs) and ICT infrastructures, appreciable progress has been made in the implementation of the 2023 Population and Housing Census.

“He also commended the methodology being put in place by the Commission to conduct accurate and reliable Census, especially the massive deployment of technology that is capable of delivering world-class Census and laying a sustainable basis for future censuses,” the statement further added.

The meeting was attended by the Attorney General of the Federation and Minister of Justice, Abubakar Malami; the Minister of Finance, Budget and National Planning, Zainab Ahmed; the Minister of Information and Culture, Lai Mohammed; the Minister of State, Budget and National Planning, Clem Agba and the Secretary to the Government of the Federation, Boss Mustapha.

It would be the second time the exercise would be postponed within the year.

With the postponement, it is expected that the incoming government of President-elect Bola Tinubu, who would take the oath of office by May 29 would conduct the exercise.

The 2023 population and housing census earlier scheduled for March 29 was shifted to May 3-7 by Mr Buhari.

The regime said the decision to shift the census then was necessitated by the postponement of the gubernatorial and state assembly elections by the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) from March 11 to March 18.

It added that N2.8 billion was approved for the National Population Commission (NPC) to procure some software to be used for the conduct of the census.