Princess Kelechi
The federal government through the National Council of State has okayed the national population census for April 2023 after the general elections.
Director-General of the National Population Commission, NPC, Nasir Isa-Kwarra, disclosed this to State House Correspondents after a meeting of the Council of State presided over by President Muhammadu Buhari on Thursday.
He also said the NPC would be conducting a pilot census from June 2022 after political parties must have concluded their pre-general elections activities.
Mr Kwarra said: “It is very crucial because I have highlighted that the census is a very important exercise for the nation.
“Because through census we generate the data that we use for policymaking, for planning, for development, by the three tiers of government, and the private sector, they all need this.
“If you are a private sector, you’re producing something, certainly, you need to know the population of an area if you want to create a market there.
“So census data is very crucial, very important. Because, the data we’ve been using are just projections, estimation. And are sort of obsolete, we need the actual census data to use for our planning.“
The Council of State is an organ of the Federal Government saddled with the responsibility of advising the executive on policy-making matters.
Members of the council include: President Vice President, past presidents, Senate President, House of Reps Speaker Chief Justice of Nigeria, serving and past.
Others are the Attorney General of the Federation, all State Governors and the Minister of Federal Capital Territory, FCT.