President Bola Ahmed Tinubu has expressed support for the National Population Commission (NPC) to conduct an accurate population and housing census in the country.
The president spoke on Thursday at the State House in Abuja after receiving a briefing from NPC Chairman, Nasir Isa Kwarra.
He, however, stressed the need for the commission to be prudent in their assignment and work towards producing census data that would be credible and reliable.
Tinubu, in a statement by his spokesman, Dele Alake, expressed concern over the delay in conducting another enumeration in the country since the last exercise done in 2006.
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He urged the NPC to view this delay as an opportunity to cash in on the advantages of the current electronic and digital age.
In his remarks, the NPC Chairman said the commission was on the verge of conducting the final training for the census before they were caught up with the transition programme for a new government and funding challenges, necessitating the postponement of the exercise by the immediate-past President.
He briefed the president on the implementation status of the 2023 population and housing census, requesting the issuance of a proclamation for a new census date later this year or early next year.
The commission put the total cost of the census, after a methodology review, at N546.72 billion.
Kwarra also requested the president’s approval for an additional N225.2 billion to cover training and fieldwork allowances, retraining of trainers, and the conduct of a second-class Trial Census.
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