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Senate wants Buhari to plan for national census in 2018

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 The Senate, on Tuesday, urged President Muhammadu Buhari to issue a proclamation for holding of a population and housing census in 2018 and also release adequate funds for the conduct of the exercise.
The call by the Senate, followed a motion tagged “A call for the Federal Government to expedite action on the planned 2018 National Census”, sponsored by Senator Suleiman Hunkuyi from Kaduna state and four others.
Hunkuyi, noted that the delay in the issuance of a proclamation by President Buhari and the poor release of funds to the National Population Commission (NPC), were major setbacks.
“It is only pertinent that subsequent population census should be carried out within an adequate timing and an objective of conducting an acceptable exercise.
“Secretary to the Government of the Federation (SGF), the NPC, Ministry of Budget and National Planning and any supervising agencies must make adequate provision in the 2018 budget as a critical prerequisite to achieving the 2017/2018 population census,” he added.
Senator John Enoh, also urged the relevant government agencies to include the total cost of conducting the national census in the 2017 budget. He further maintained that going forward, the Federal Government should adhere to the United Nations (UN) position that censuses be conducted every 10 years.
On his part, Senator Emmanuel Bwacha from Taraba state, said “if they tell us the number of people that have been killed in the North-East, some of us will faint. It is important for us to support this motion and ensure that funds are released for the conduct of the national census and call on President Buhari to make a proclamation.
Senator Robert Borofice, in his intervention, noted: “The resources we have now are now being used in the North-East and in the Niger Delta. I do not see the reason why monies should not be released to NPC for them to conduct the national census. The huge sum of money we will in getting data from abroad is expensive. Let us channel that money into NPC so that they can conduct the census.”
Senator Albert Akpan from Akwa Ibom state, urged NPC and the Federal Government to make early preparations and ensure that the outcome of the census exercise is credible. He warned that the mistakes of 2006 must be avoided, when Kano and Lagos states contested the outcome of the exercise.
Ekweremadu, who presided, warned NPC not to conduct a national census that will be deliberated. He maintained every Nigerian must be counted and that information technology should be deployed in order to produce acceptable results.
“I want to thank the sponsor of the motion. As we approach the next census, we must take advantage of the development in technology and make the results of the exercise acceptable. All the previous exercises have been disputed. We want this exercise to count. Every Nigerian must be counted and no one should be counted twice. If we do this, we will be able to plan,” Ekweremadu added.
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0 Comments

  1. Olawale james anifowoshe

    October 18, 2016 at 3:36 pm

    i don’t think we should be discussing census now, with everything happening in this country. reviving our economy is what should be our priority

    • JOHNSON PETER

      October 18, 2016 at 3:44 pm

      how do you revive economy when you don’t know the number of citizens you need to cater for. I think it is necessary because census ought to be done every ten years.

      • yanju omotodun

        October 18, 2016 at 3:53 pm

        you must be a fool. is it not money we will use to conduct census? if you know the huge money involved in conducting national census, you won’t even talk of that now. when we are finally out of economy recession, then we can talk of having a census to plan for other years to come. Though we can’t blame the mover of the motion because he said for 2018. simply means , he might have project a better economy by then.

        • Apachee zooma

          October 18, 2016 at 6:00 pm

          This is not about being foolish. I think the fools are the shit people up there who do not see the relevance of stats in planning for development. We are being led blinding by some shit people. Shikena!

  2. Margret Dickson

    October 18, 2016 at 7:28 pm

    I think this is the wrong time to start talking about census, Nigeria is still in recession and experts have claimed this recession won’t end until late 2017, where will Nigeria now get the money to fund this census in 2018 when the FG will want to do everything to keep the economy in stable condition? Senators need to dream with their eyes widely opened.

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