WHY THE NPC INDEFINITELY POSTPONED THE 2023 CENSUS


By Aanuoluwapo Akande

On Saturday, the National Population Commission (NPC) announced its decision to indefinitely postpone the upcoming 2023 Census that was originally meant to take place on the 3rd of May, 2023. The decision was made after a meeting between President Muhammadu Buhari and the NPC Chairman, Nasir Isa Kwara. It was later announced on the same day by the Minister of Information and Culture, Lai Muhammed, that the date of the Census will be chosen by the next government.

The reason for postponing the census, according to the NPC, is to allow adequate participation of the incoming government in the next census. This reason is a contrast to the most believed opinion that the census was postponed because of inadequate funding. 

According to a Twitter post by Sheu Sani, a former lawmaker, he argued that the government postponed the census so as not to bear the burden of funding the census which costs over 1.8 billion naira.

He wrote: “ The simple fact is that the federal Government doesn’t have 1.8 billion nairas for the census and now shifted the wahala to Asiwaju.”

However, the Commission’s Director of Public Affairs Department, Dr. Isiaka Yahaya, in an interview with Sunday Tribune in Abuja, made it clear that the government postponed the census so that the new government will be able to accept the data without doubting its reliability and validity. According to him, the census should be used for planning purposes and not just for the collection of data.

He said in his interview with Sunday Tribune: “If that is the assumption, it means the administration that would use this data should be part of the collection of the data. It won’t be wise that at a certain stage when they come in, we should just throw the data at them”. 

He added: “That would affect their confidence in the data. But now, we have gone far in the preparations, we are almost at the tail end. It is also good for the administration that will use the data both at the National and state level to know how the census would be conducted. If they participate in that process, I am sure that they will have faith in using the data. This is one major reason for the postponement”. 

He also claimed that the date was not postponed because they were not prepared, and neither was it because they lacked funds. Rather, it was due to the need to allow the next government to participate in the census process so they could trust the census data.

Although they were still convalescing for funds from the Federal Government (who would not release funds at once), he was still positive that they had the government's support and the fund would have been made available if the census had not been postponed.


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