Census: NPC requests Tinubu approval of additional N225.2 billion

The National Population Commission (NPC) has requested President Bola Ahmed Tinubu’s approval of an additional N225.2 billion to cover the postponed Census training and fieldwork allowances.

NPC Chairman, Nasir Isa Kwarra in Abuja on Thursday said the requested funds would also cover the retraining of trainers and the conduct of a second-class Trial Census.

Kwarra further asked President Tinubu to approve and convene a stakeholders meeting with the organized private sector and foreign partners to galvanize funds for the exercise.

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Kwarra informed Tinubu that Nigeria has developed a database that can be useful in national planning, infrastructure development, and revenue generation for the government.

”NPC having completed Mapping in March 2022, tested the market with the geospatial data by making it available to researchers at a ‘test price’ where it generated over N50 million through REMITA.

”To this end, with integrated spatial and statistical data, government geospatial policy, and coordination, NPC can generate up to 14 billion dollars and further save a lot of resources for the nation through automation of economic planning by 2028.

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“The commission put the total cost of the Census, after a methodology review, at N546.72 billion.”

The NPC Chairman said the Commission was on the verge of conducting the final training for the exercise before they were caught up with the transition programme for a new government and funding challenges which necessitated the postponement of the exercise by the immediate-past President, Muhammadu Buhari. 

He, however, 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.

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Kwarra also highlighted the funding challenges faced by the Commission, saying they were waiting on the President to support NPC and give the go-ahead for the conduct of the census.

He said the commission had demarcated the entire country, stating that only one or the two places were left would be done soon.

Kwarra said the commission had also trained 60,000 instructors that would further train enumerators and supervisors.

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“Implementation Status of the 2023 Population and Housing Census,” the NPC requested the release of the allocated N31 billion capital allocation, in the 2023 budget, for preparatory activities.”