A Federal Commissioner of the National Population Commission (NPC) for Osun State, Mudashir Hussain, has described the 2006 National Population Census as a charade, saying no one knows the exact population of Nigeria.
He also said that the commission is ready to conduct a credible population census across the country.
Hussain spoke Wednesday at the opening of the South-West Zone of the Training of Trainers for Trial Census Functionaries held in Abeokuta, Ogun State.
The training, which was targeted at management staff of the NPC from level 14 upward had 140 participants drawn from Lagos, Ogun, Oyo, Osun, Ondo and Ekiti States.
“The census of 2006 was controversial and up till today, no one can say the exact number of Nigerians. Almost a year ago, we have started Enumerated Area Demarcation (EAD). We have concluded 772 local governments, we are left with two local governments, which we will do before the commencement of the census proper.
“We are going to have a trial census by the end of this month (June) to test all our strategies and technologies before the main census in 2023. We have paid a courtesy visit to all service chiefs and they have assured us of security support,” he said.
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