The Federal Commissioner representing Osun State at the National Population Commission (NPC), Dr Amidu Tadese, yesterday, revealed that the population census in Nigeria is too sensitive to be rushed.
The Federal Government had scheduled the Population and Housing census from 3-6 May 2023, before it was postponed after the general elections last year.
Speaking with journalists in Osogbo at the weekend, Dr Tadese said the exercise would have failed the integrity test considering the agitation that usually accompanies such exercise.
His words: “The last administration of President Muhammadu Buhari attempted to conduct a census in 2023, we don’t need to be told that the timing of last year’s census was designed ab initio not to hold because the government was supposed to depart on 29 May.
“The election just took place and people were still contending with several issues around it. Meanwhile, the census itself comes with a lot of complaints. We witnessed the 2006 census, where some states of the federation disagreed with the figure and went ahead to conduct an independent census of their citizens.
“If another census was allowed to take place, the result would not have been accepted by the majority of the citizens. So, the then-president took the right decision by suspending it to allow the coming administration to settle down and address the issue”.
