The population and housing census, which was originally set for the end of this month, has been postponed, according to the Federal Government.
This was announced to reporters on Wednesday by Minister of Information and Culture, Alhaji Lai Mohammed, at the conclusion of the Federal Executive Council’s weekly meeting, which was presided by President Muhammadu Buhari.
The Minister explained that the decision to move the date was necessitated by the rescheduling of the gubernatorial election to 18 March.
He also disclosed that the Council approved N2.8 billion for the National Population Commission (NPC) to procure some software to be used for the conduct of the census.
According to him: “There was a memo presented by the National Population Commission, seeking for some software to allow them conduct the census in May this year. I believe because of the rescheduling of the elections, they cannot commence the census as scheduled.
“They sought Council’s approval for a contract to procure software for the census at the sum of N2.8 billion”.
