Buhari cancels Nigeria's 2016 Census

Buhari cancels Nigeria's 2016 Census

General Muhammadu Buhari has cancelled the scheduled 2016 Nigerian census exercise. The National Population Commission (NPC) on Thursday said the conduct of a comprehensive census in 2016 is not feasible due to factors beyond the commission. The Biafran believes the move is to pave way for a Hausa-Fulani to take charge at the NPC by the time the census may be conducted.

Addressing a media forum in Abuja, the Federal Commissioner representing Enugu State on the Board of the Commission, Dr Festus Uzor, said the commission needs more time to prepare for the census as it requires 1.1 million enumerators and over 50,000 supervisors to effectively cover the country.

He said the earliest feasible time for the census will be in 2017.

Dr Uzor, therefore, appealed to Nigerians and the federal government to support the National Population Commission‎ in its effort to conduct a credible population census that will be generally acceptable by all.

The commission had earlier made known its intention to adopt the use of biometric data technology for the 2017 population and housing census.

The technology will involve the capturing of facial impression and fingerprints of respondents.

Chairman of the commission, Eze Duruiheoma, said the aim is to eliminate all forms of manipulation and also give the nation accurate, reliable and indisputable demographic data that will drive the country to sustainable development.

According to him, the introduction of biometric verification of respondents’ fingerprints and faces will eliminate all forms of contentions and allegations of manipulations that followed the previous exercises.

He also announced that the commission would recruit over 5,000 ad-hoc staff, to complement the number of existing staff of the commission during the census enumeration.

After the last census in 2006, the commission surmised the number of Nigerians residing in Nigeria to be about 140 million, which triggered arguments and accusations.

This delay maybe due to the the fact that for the first time the NPC is being headed by a southerner. There are indications that Eze Duruiheoma who replaced Festus Odimegwu would be removed as the chairman of the census commission before the census would be conducted.

The former NPC chairman Odimegwu was sacked at the insistence of Northern Nigeria politicians after he revealed that Nigeria has never conducted a credible census.

Dr Odimegwu had alleged in 2013 that no credible census had been conducted in Nigeria since 1816. According to him, census figures were regularly distorted for selfish reasons.

Speaking to journalists yesterday in Abuja, Dr. Odimegwu gave a graphical analysis of how the various census exercises had been manipulated over the years. “No census has been credible in Nigeria since 1816. Even the one conducted in 2006 is not credible. I have the records and evidence produced by scholars and professors of repute.

This is not my report. If the current laws are not amended, the planned 2016 census will not succeed,” Odimegwu said. He recalled how staffers of NPC protested against commissioners during the 2006 census over alleged manipulation.

“During the 2006 census, workers locked out the commissioners over creation of new areas,” he said. Odimegwu further alleged that a former Lagos State governor (names withheld) falsified a census result some years ago.

“Nigeria has run on falsehood for too long. We must stop this falsehood and put a stop to all of these. The Boko Haram problem is partly as a result of that. Because the 2006 census was not correct, the former board of NPC was unable to publish the figures. “If they try it, there will be an uproar. We must make Nigeria work. We cannot do that unless we know the statistics. We cannot build infrastructure without demographic data. As long as the figures in Nigeria are wrong, corruption will continue to thrive. We must have an organised data before we can plan for Nigeria,” he stated.

He urged that Nigeria should either conduct a credible census exercise or forget about it. “It is either we do an accurate census or we will not do anything. We are committed to giving Nigerians a credible and reliable census. Nigerians are weeping up sentiments, but we have gone beyond ethnic sentiments. Nigerian children are suffering and many youths have no jobs,” Odimegwu said.