Members of the Senate Committee on Appropriations were shocked on Tuesday when informed that there was no provision for the scheduled 2024 population and housing census in the budget proposal for the National Population Commission.

The Chairman, Senate Committee on National Population Commission, Senator Abdul Ningi (PDP Bauchi Central),informed the lawmakers about the development while presenting a report on the NPC 2024 budget to the collating Committee.

He told the committee that if the money for the census was not provided in the budget, the country would lose about N200bn which the National Population Commission has spent.

He, however, disclosed to the committee that NPC would appear on Wednesday with its documentation on how much they need to conduct the2024 population census.

Ningi said, “They will appear tomorrow (Wednesday) with proper documentation of how much they need. If we don’t get the money, the nation will lose, the people will lose, the money spent on the preparation for the census will go down the drain and it is a humongous amount of money, over N200 billion already spent that is my take.”

Reacting to the development, the Chairman of the Senate Committee on Appropriation, Senator Olamilekan Adeola (APC Ogun West), assured Ningi that the committee would look for funds to cater for the 2024 population census in the budget.

He added that the head of the agency should appear in the company of the committee chairman to tell them what was needed for the conduct of the census which was scheduled to hold in the first quarter of next year.

“They have the trade, they have thecapacity they have the understanding and of course, they have the resources to be able to attract investment into our country,” he added. (The PUNCH)