…Fingers rescheduled governorship election
…Insists postponement has no cost implication
By Hassan Zaggi
Contrary to insinuations in many quarters on the postponement of the earlier planned 2023 population and housing census, the National Population Commission (NPC) has said that the postponement will not attract any cost to the federal government.
At a chat with the media on Sunday, the Director, Public Affairs Department of the NPC, Dr Isiaka Yahaya, disclosed that the planned census was postponed in order to allow Nigerians who were aggrieved with the outcome of the 2023 elections to heal and accept the reality that the elections have been concluded and winners emerged.
He noted that the postponement of the census was due to the federal government’s wisdom to ensure that the exercise is conducted when all Nigerians are happy and nerves have been calmed after the inauguration of the in-coming government.
Dr. Isiaka, however, debunked the rumours making the rounds that the census was postponed due to insufficient funds and poor preparation by the Commission.
He insisted that, in terms of funding, the federal government has lived up to its expectations by providing the needed funds.
“The census was not postponed but was rescheduled, because preparations for the census have begun already.
“Some are having the misconception that the census was postponed due to the Commission’s lack of preparation.
“I want to let Nigerians know that we are prepared and we have done everything that we need to do to deliver this census starting from the enumeration/demarcation, first and second pre-test and the trial census. So the issue of our preparedness is out of it.
“The responsibility for the funding of the census is that of the federal government of Nigeria and they have lived up to expectations in financing all the preparations. And I know that if there was a consensus to proceed with the census, the money will come. We should be very clear that it’s not an issue of funding.
“The federal government has the power to decide whether the census will take place or not, this is a massive exercise and the decision cannot be only for the Commission to make. Therefore, the federal government has felt in its wisdom to postpone it.
“The federal government might have thought that the conduct of the census is a process. If the nation uses the data for planning then it has to be done well.”
While saying that the rescheduling of the 2023 governorship election by the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) tempered with the plan earlier made by the NPC, Dr. Isiaka, explained that: “Fixing the census after the election, we felt the healing process that we hoped after the election everyone must have accepted the fate. But the rescheduling of the governorship election, limited the period available for this healing process to happen.
“The preparation will continue as it is a process that has started. We have done everything that needs to be done and we are ready to move.
“The federal government in its discretion must have felt to carry out the census after the inauguration of the new administration and after nerves have been calmed.”
Debunking the assertion in some quarters that Nigeria will loose billions of naira due to the postponement of the census, Dr. Yahaya insisted that the nation was not loosing anything .
He, however, said the country will gain a lot by having extra time to continue preparations to have an effective data that will aid planning.
“The kind of preparations we have made for the census are so effective to the extent that if we don’t conduct the census now, those infrastructures and facilities we have put in place, will make it successful. The nation is not loosing anything substantial from the census postponement.”
On his part, the NPC Census Manager, Dr. Inuwa Jalingo, explained that the Commission was fully ready and prepared technically to implement the census and ensure that the outcome is accepted by all global standard.
He, however, reiterated that, “preparation for the exercise continues.”
According to Jalingo: “We have created the necessary system that is required to implement a digital census. Starting from our software development, which we have developed for the enumeration area demarcation.
“For the success of the census, we have developed systems whereby it doesn’t allow the enumerators go beyond the boundaries in which they are expected to enumerate.
“So the issue of overlap or under coverage has been taken care of in our planning for this census.”
