Tinubu to decide new census date

The incoming administration of Asiwaju Bola Tinubu is to decide the date of the national housing and population census after his inauguration on May 29.

Daily Trust on Sunday reports that President Muhammadu Buhari had approved the postponement of the 2023 census earlier scheduled from May 3 to 7, 2023 to a date to be determined by the incoming administration.

In a statement signed by the Minister of Information and Culture, Alhaji Lai Mohammed, the president gave the approval after meeting with some members of the Federal Executive Council and the chairman of the National Population Commission and his team in Abuja.

Mohammed stated that 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 census to collect up-to-date data that would drive the developmental goals of the country and improve the living standard of the people.

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According to him, the president commended the methodology being put in place by the commission to conduct an accurate and reliable census, especially the massive deployment of technology capable of delivering world class census and laying a sustainable basis for future censuses.

Daily Trust on Sunday reports that the chairman of the commission had on Thursday during a meeting with the diplomatic corps in Abuja, stated that the commission was yet to get all the devices needed to carry out the census, noting that some devices would be procured in a few days’ time.

“For the country, we require up to 800,000 PADs; so far, we have procured 500,000. The remaining are coming in a few days’ time,” he said.

Speaking with Daily Trust Sunday yesterday, NPC’s Director of Public Affairs, Dr Isiaka Yahaya, said the postponement was not due to finance or technical issues but the need to allow the incoming administration to own the entire process.

Yahaya said the commission was fully prepared to carry out the exercise as its process had been tested and accepted by stakeholders