The House of Representatives yesterday passed for second reading a bill seeking to alter the provisions of the 1999 Constitution to specify a time frame for the conduct of the National Population Census.
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The sponsor of the bill, Hon. Babajimi Benson, in his lead debate, said it was unfortunate that Nigeria does not have a good history of census, especially since after independence.
He recalled that the last population census conducted in Nigeria was in 2006, saying the exercise was enmeshed in a lot of controversies, which was not good for a country that aims at developing.
The lawmaker said the bill, when passed, would set a time frame and helps the country to conduct population censuses in Nigeria for the purpose of effective planning and development of the country.
Benson said its advantages included adequate budgeting for the exercise and provision of personnel since the time frame is fixed.
According to him, “There is no structured format for conducting the exercise and those that were conducted have been shrouded in controversies. These include the 1962, 1963, 1973, 1991 and 2006 censuses out of which only the 1963 exercise has been officially accepted. Furthermore, population census exercises have been marred by poor organisational and managerial challenges, staffing and logistical shortages, weak technological capacity, inadequate funding, and staffing and logistical shortages.
‘’Today, no one can specifically say what the population of the country is. All figures being used are at best merely speculative. Nigeria has no verifiable demographic data that meets international best practices. The National Assembly can appropriate a specific amount towards the conduct of the exercise and ensure value for money. The National Population Commission can plan ahead, making well-trained personnel adequately available for the exercise. This is because enumeration areas and maps need to be geo-referenced and digitalised to make the entire process more accurate, evidence-based and usable for planning processes.”
Benson said the demographic information obtained from such planned exercise can be fused with socio-economic data available to the government and used for the purpose of planning and effective delivery of services to the people.
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