The Federal Government has left Nigerians in shock after requesting the sum of ₦869 billion to conduct the 2023 housing and population digital census exercise.
The exercise is scheduled to be held in April 2023, following the completion of the country’s general elections.
At a high-level partner engagement yesterday in Abuja, Clement Agba, the minister of state for budget and national planning, revealed that 46% of the budget had been contributed by the federal government.
According to Agba, N327.2 billion is still needed to adequately conduct the census.
“The total requirements for this census, including the post-census activities, is N869 billion, this is about 1.88 billion US dollars,” he said.
“When you hear the numbers, they really look very huge. Censuses all over the world, the average is between four to six dollars. However, in the United States, they spend $16 per person. In Botswana, they spend about $10 per person. So Nigeria’s $6 per person, you’ll agree with me, is very reasonable.
“So far, the government has spent 291.5 billion naira which is $632 million. This is about 46 per cent of the requirement for the census. I know this time around we’re not just doing only the population census, we’re also doing a housing census.
“So the additional requirements for the critical items to ensure the census is done is 327.2 billion naira. This is about 709.9 million US dollars.”
Agba explained that the government has not conducted a census in almost two decades due to the change in administration, recession, and COVID-19, among others.
He said the census would be digital, green, and transformative, adding that beyond insecurity and cultural issues, funding remains a major challenge for the exercise.
He said the government needs support from the public both “in cash and kind”, to among other things purchase tablets for enumerators, internet and data connectivity as well as conduct training.
However, Zainab Ahmed, minister of finance, has said it would help the nation in its planning for development and provide accurate data for different sectors and also for investment.
Zainab Ahmed said the conduct of the census had become imperative after almost two decades since the last one was held in 2006.
“As you may be aware, this month, the month of March marks exactly 17 years since the last national census was conducted in Nigeria, in 2006,”
“By United Nations standards, population and housing censuses are to be conducted every 10 years. The set period allows the government to correctly capture changes in the population, the age structure, and the movement of the population for alignment of public policy, and also for investment decisions and making laws.
“Almost two decades on, it has become imperative and urgent for Nigeria to conduct another census as clearly spelt out in our national development plan of 2021 to 2025.”
