Ghaji Bello, the
director-general of the National Population Commission, NPC, has said
the National Population Census will hold in 2018, if necessary logistics
were provided, noting that the exercise would cost an estimated N272
billion.
Bello disclosed this in an interview
with the News Agency of Nigeria in New York, said the exercise should
have been conducted in 2016 in line with international practice.
“If we are given all the resources that
we need today, we may need possibly the first quarter of next year
before we can do proper census,” he said.
“Because there are quite a number of
processes that have to be undertaken as part of the preparatory
activities between now and the actual census phase itself. And that
would be sometimes in the first quarter of 2018 and thereabout.
“Ordinarily, it ought to have a cycle of
its own and that cycle should be five years or 10 years. We should have
conducted the last census in 2016 but for a variety of reasons outside
the control of the population commission, we were unable to do it.”
“One, in 2015, there was a general election; because of the preparations
towards the general election, that in a way affected our ability to be
mobilised to move with full gear for the 2016.
“Secondly, once the election was
concluded and there was a new government in place, that government also
has to get its foot on ground before it can move forward. “But no sooner
had it started to settle down than there was the issue of recession,
collapse of the oil in the international market and with a variety of
other reasons again, it just didn’t happen.”
To meet the UN 10-year benchmark, Bello
said the commission was working for a constitutional amendment that
would allow for scheduled conduct of the census. He added that the
conduct of the census under the present administration would give the
exercise a deserved National and International credibility and
reliability.
“We are of the firm belief that if it is
conducted under this government, that there will be a lot of
international credibility for the exercise. This is given the persona of
the president that is there at present. And then people take advantage
of climes and environment and chances and there are times when
everything works in your favour.
‘’We believe firmly in the National
Population Commission that census conducted under President Muhammadu
Buhari would go a long way in actually achieving the credibility that we
want,” he added. He explained that Nigeria would take advantage of
technology in the next population census through the use of biometrics.
“That will put to rest, the issue as to whether people are counting
donkeys or fishes or horses or cows or trees,’’ he said.
Of the estimated N272 billion, Mr. Bello
said the Federal Government was expected to fund the exercise by only
51 per cent, while the international donor community would fund the
remaining 49 per cent.
“The submission we have made to the
Federal Government is in the region of N272 billion. But the good thing
is that that the N272 billion is not for one single year. “It is spread
along a four-year tenure. There’s pre-census activities, that is the
preparation; the actual census proper itself and the post-census
enumeration activities.
“So maybe you are looking at an average
of maybe N40 billion in the first year, another N100 billion during the
actual census itself and then the balance during the last year. “But the
beauty again is that not all the resources are normally provided by the
government of the federation.
“The international community does come
in and supporters like EU, USAID; from the previous record that we have,
the ratio is 51 to 49 per cent. The 51 per cent is provided by the
Federal Government while the 49 per cent is provided by the
international donor community.”
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