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

This is as 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.

In February, President Tinubu promised that he would set up a committee to align the census budget to his administration?s financial realities.

Meanwhile, speaking at the event held at the Presidential Villa, Abuja, on Wednesday, President Tinubu, who was represented by his Chief of Staff, Femi Gbajabiamila, stressed the 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.

Also speaking, the Minister of Budget and Economic Planning, Senator Atiku Bagudu, who chairs the Presidential Committee on Population and Housing Census, assured the President that the committee would deliver its report within the three-week deadline.

The minister recalled that President Tinubu had urged ministers during their retreat in 2003 to think creatively and work with the resources available, even under harsh economic realities.

Bagudu noted that despite global economic challenges, Nigeria is making steady progress under President Tinubu?s leadership, citing improved foreign exchange stability and a positive growth trajectory.

He said the committee would recommend practical solutions, including strategies for mobilising domestic and international resources to fund the census.

The Minister of Information, Muhammed Idris, also a committee member, emphasised that accurate data is critical for planning across all sectors and that a credible census is the foundation for such data.

The National Population Commission (NPC) Chairman, Nasir Isa Kwarra, who also serves as the committee?s secretary, said the commission had already begun preparations for the national census in collaboration with the Ministry of Budget and Economic Planning and other relevant stakeholders.

He said the focus had been on identifying key requirements and laying the groundwork necessary for the President to make an informed decision on the actual conduct of the census.

Kwarra assured Nigerians that the National Population Commission remained committed to ensuring a credible, technology-driven enumeration that will support effective national planning and development.

The eight-member committee also includes the Minister of Finance and Coordinating Minister of the Economy, the Chairman of the Federal Inland Revenue Service (FIRS), the Director General of the National Identity Management Commission (NIMC), the Principal Secretary to the President, and the Senior Special Assistant to the President on Administration and Operations (Office of the Chief of Staff). (Daily Trust)

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