The incoming administration of the president-elect, Bola Ahmed Tinubui, will now determine a new date for 2023 Population and Housing Census as the outgoing President Muhammadu Buhari suspended it indefinitely.
This is the second time this year’s census would be postponed. Expectedly, the exercise was slated to begin on May 3 and ends four days after. It was earlier scheduled for March 27 but shifted to May 3 as a result of a change of date for the gubernatorial election by Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC).
The decision was made on Friday after a meeting between President Muhammadu Buhari and the Chairman of the National Population Commission (NPC), Nasir Isa Kwarra at the State House, according to Leadership newspaper.
On Thursday, during a meeting with the diplomatic corps at the Federal Ministry of Foreign Affairs in Abuja, the chairman of the commission stated that the commission was yet to get all the devices needed to carry out the census, noting that some devices will be procured in a few days’ time.
“For the country, we require up to 800,000 PADs, so far, we have procured about 500,000. The remaining are coming in a few days’ time,” he said.
On the donations for the census by the private sector and other key stakeholders, he said “But you know the way they operate; it is not as if the money will come like that. They have to talk with their own government and look at their budget. So, that process is ongoing. But we cannot say any money has come in. It is a process, and the process is unfolding.”
