STATEHOUSE PRESS RELEASE   PRESIDENT TINUBU INAUGURATES NATIONAL CENSUS COMMITTEE, GIVES THREE-WEEK DEADLINE FOR REPORT

President Bola Ahmed Tinubu inaugurated a high-level committee on the forthcoming national population and housing census on Wednesday. The committee will submit an interim report within three weeks.

The President said the census is crucial for national development, accurate planning, and effective decision-making in healthcare, education, security, and economic planning.

Nigeria’s last census was in 2006, nearly two decades ago. It recorded a population of 140,431,790, with 71,345,488 males and 69,086,302 females.

President Tinubu stressed the pivotal role of a technology-driven process in ensuring credible and verifiable results and the need for collaboration among all relevant agencies and stakeholders.

Underscoring the critical financing factor in the exercise, the President enjoined the members to look at domestic and even international resources.

“Work with all relevant agencies, including the Ministry of Budget and Economic Planning. This ministry has to take charge of this because you cannot budget if you do not know how many we are.

“We expect you will touch on the technology area because the census must be technology-driven. Things have changed since the last time that we conducted this exercise. The enumeration has to be technology-driven with biometrics and digitalisation,” he said.