The need to conclude the 2023 national census for effective economic planning

It is ridiculous or even mind boggling to note that a nation as big as Nigeria does not have accurate data as to know its actual population,which is a bedrock for proper planning,be it economic, social or even political.

This has thrown the country into a mess of speculations, while some people put Nigeria’s population at 200 million, others say it is 100 million and so on.

It is now a matter of say your own to suit your purpose. How can such nation plan effectively without accurate data? The 2023 population census project embarked upon by the Muhammadu Buhari administration estimated at N869bn got to about 90 percent conclusion, only to be aborted without cogent reasons.

A bigger chunk of the budgeted funds was released before the eleventh hour postponement. This has brought the census project in line with other endless projects in the country, such as the turnaround maintenance of the Port Harcourt refineries, Nigerian Air, Ajaokuta Steel industry, among others. This, to say the least, is not healthy for our nascent democracy and industrialisation dream.

The case of Ajaokuta Steel industry is more pathetic in that it has lasted for over several decades since the project was conceived, but remains uncompleted till date. That is discussion for another day. But the question is why should a project as important as the population and housing census be dropped at the 11th hour without recourse to the impulse of Nigerians.

Not to mention several millions of Naira that have been dumped into such project at the expense of taxpayers. We gathered that over a whopping sum of N800bn had already been spent on the 2023 botched national census without achieving the desired result. There must be that conscious effort to utilise what we have effectively and judiciously for the betterment all.

How do we now reconcile wasting such humongous amount of money on the national census, only to abandon the project half way? It does not make any economic, logical or even moral sense for such decision to have been taken. No serious nation with visionary leaders should be doing that.

Leading a nation like ours without current accurate census figure is like manuveuring a ship in the deep seas without a rudder or compass. That could be catastrophic!There are numerous benefits attached to accurate census data for leadership. Chief among them is proper and effective planning, which is what Nigeria needs at this point in time.

We don’t need mercenaries to steer the wheel of this great nation aright, all we need is political will, coupled with commitment and a little dose of patriotism.

So the Federal, State and even the local governments should put on their thinking caps for the task ahead. America was built by Americans, Britain by British, so Nigeria must be built by Nigerians and the only way to achieve that is to put square pegs in square holes.

In doing that, anybody that lacks capacity should give way. The era of mediocrity is gone and should remain gone forever. In this 21st century and considering the age of the country, what Nigeria needs now is the best. There should be no excuse.

Oil subsidy has been removed, well and good, but not for Nigerians to suffocate to death. There should have been well thought out programmes to cushion the effect of subsidy removal. That is the way to go and anything less will be unacceptable to millions of innocent Nigerians whose only crime is to be citizens of the country. Government came to being when people agreed to surrender part of their rights to the rulers and such rights could be retrieved in case of any abuse.

As for citizens, we must give all the needed support to the leaders for maximum productivity. It is pertinent that everybody joins hands to move this great nation forward.

Apart from the national census, all other aborted or abandoned projects of national interest must be revisited, with the aim of completing them. The Nigerian Air project for instance, that can provide thousands of jobs to Nigerians must be revisited and any possible bottle neck working against the project removed.

The same with the protracted Ajaokuta Steel industry project. In case we don’t know, completing such lofty project will engender the much anticipated industrialization of the country. Also the turnaround maintenance of the Port Harcourt Refinery and other three refineries should be completed and allowed to run at maximum capacity.

The absence of functional refineries in the country is what everybody is suffering today by buying a litre of fuel at over N700 as against N145 before the inception of the  All Progressives Congress (APC) government.

No matter the  amount of salary award, student loan and palliative, the high cost of living will continue. Because such temporary measures are like windows and they don’t endure. But that is not the prayer or wish of any well meaning Nigerian. The proper thing should be done, which is finding permanent solutions to the problems.

And the earlier we rise up to our responsibilities, the better for us.