NPC chair briefs Tinubu on census this week

The Chairman, National Population Commission, Nasir Isa-Kwarra, will be meeting with President Bola Tinubu this week, The PUNCH has learnt.

The meeting, our correspondent learnt, may not be unconnected with the updates for conducting the 2023 Population and Housing Census, which was earlier scheduled for May 3-7 but was postponed indefinitely.

Former President Muhammadu Buhari had approved the postponement to a later date to be decided by the then-incoming administration of Tinubu.

Then Minister of Information and Culture, Lai Mohammed, in an April 29 statement, quoted the Federal Executive Council as reiterating that 17 years since the last census was conducted, there was a need for up-to-date data to be collected to drive the developmental goal and standard of living of the Nigerian people.

Speaking with our correspondent on Tuesday, the spokesperson for the NPC, Isiaka Yahaya, said, “The chairman will be meeting with the President this week but I cannot give you the exact date. We are working on the presentation to brief President Tinubu on the state of the preparation of the census.”

When asked if activities are still ongoing ahead of the census, Yahaya said, “We are still continuing with our activities, such as sensitisation and online training, among other activities.”