…..Targets $14bn through automation of economic planning by 2028

….N546.72bn estimated as total cost of Census

….Be prudent, digitalise the process for credible outcome, Tinubu tells Commission

… Says extreme poverty, unemployment driving people into urban centres

.…Promises support for NPC on census exercise

.…Charges Commission on data integrity

By Moses Adeniyi

As questions as to the conduct of the suspended national population and housing census becomes more encumbered, the National Population Commission (NPC) has put it before President Bola Tinubu that an additional N225.2 billion is needed to conduct a hitch-free process.

NPC Chairman, Nasir Isa Kwarra made the request while briefing the President about the activities of the Commission at the Presidential Villa, Abuja on Thursday.

This is just as the Commission has said that with a full 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. .

The additional N225.2 billion requested of the President, NewsDirect gathered, was to cover expenses on training and fieldwork allowances, retraining of trainers, and the conduct of a second-class Trial Census.

According to a statement issued by the Special Adviser to the President on Special Duties, Communications and Strategy, Mr Dele Alake, President Tinubu while receiving the NPC team expressed disappointment that no census had been held in the Country since 2006.

He called on the NPC to be prudent with resources at its disposal, tasking them to digitalise the process for efficiency.

He noted that there has been changes in demographic profile in the Country, mentioning that extreme poverty and unemployment has informed migration of people to urban centers.

He also pledged his unwavering support for the Commission in its task to conduct an accurate census exercise.

The President, who it was gathered will personally come up with new dates for the national population and housing census emphasized the need for the Commission to be prudent in its assignment and work towards producing census data that would be credible and reliable.

Tinubu who lamented the last census dates back to 2006, urged the NPC to view the delay as an opportunity to optimise the advantages of the current electronic and digital age.

“It is disappointing that up until now we have not been able to conduct another enumeration of our people. I hope that this delay will be converted to a great opportunity in this electronic and digital age.

“The challenge is yours and I hope that during the demarcation you did, you would have noticed the migration of people to urban centers because of the extreme poverty and unemployment.

“Digitalizing the process will make your job easier and I don’t see why we don’t, by now, have a reliable database in Nigeria to identify ourselves and ascertain our numbers for planning purposes and in time of disaster.

“I have listened to you and we will support you. Accuracy and integrity of your data is very important to Nigerians and for our national economic development programmes.

“We will support you but you have to be prudent and be determined to make a name for yourself. Goodluck,” he said.

Earlier in his speech, the NPC Chairman noted that the Commission was on the verge of conducting the final training for the Census before they were caught up with the transition programme for a new government and funding challenges, necessitating the postponement of the exercise by the immediate-past President, Muhammadu Buhari.

He 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.

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 and that this would be done soon.

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

In a paper titled “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.

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

President Tinubu was also asked to approve and convene a stakeholders meeting with the organized private sector and foreign partners to galvanise funds for the Census.

Kwarra informed the President 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 a full 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,”.he said.

Speaking to newsmen after the meeting, Kwarra disclosed that President Tinubu would inform the Commission on the new dates for the national population and housing census, after studying the report presented to him.

He was quoted: “We briefed him fully on the level of our preparedness, the outcomes that we envisage and I’ll like to say that Mr President has graciously approved to support the Commission in the conduct of census and our preparatory activities, though we’re not stuck at all, but he has given us the courage and the impetus to upscale our preparation.

“So, we’ll continue our preparations and we’ll hear from him eventually, the date that the census will take place because we’ve made a submission to him that he will study before getting back to us. But as for the assurance of support, he has given that to us and we thank him immensely for this for also realizing the importance of data for the purpose of national planning and development.”

Recall that after a postponement was foisted nullifying the earlier scheduled date, the NPC had disclosed, in May, that over N200 billion had so far been spent for preparation for the exercise.

Isa-Kwarra had made the disclosure in Abuja on Thursday May 18 at a breakfast meeting with media executives in preparation for the 2023 population and housing census.

The NPC boss further had stated that although N800 billion was budgeted for the census, the Federal Government had only allocated N224 billion for the exercise as at then.

“What we’ve been able to expend is about N200 billion. So, the N800 billion is a budget and that budget covers the cost of conducting census in Nigeria. It is not that government has given us N800 billion but it is a budget and we believe that we may spend up to that or we may not spend up to that.

“To be straightforward, the federal government has actually provided N224 billion which we have utilised for the census so far,” he had said.

The NPC boss had hailed Buhari’s decision to postpone the census, saying that it was the right decision to make amidst processes of power transition to another administration.

The NPC had late April announced the postponement of the population and housing census earlier scheduled for May 3rd, 2023, citing it was in view of the Federal Government’s wisdom for the exercise to hold after the inauguration of the new administration and after nerves from the general elections must have been calmed.

It had maintained that the census was not cancelled but only postponed and that preparations still continued.