President Mohammadu Buhari has sought the buy-in of citizens on the need to submit themselves for enumeration purposes during the upcoming 2023 Population and Housing Census.
He stated the need for a new data, set to drive the implementation of the recently launched revised National Policy on Population for Sustainable Development and other government policies.
Buahi made the appeal Monday in his address at the National Stakeholders Summit on the 2023 Population and Housing Census held at the banquet hall, State House, Abuja.
He said the 2023 census data is needed to tackle the security challenges bedeviling the country as it will give an overview of the population, where they are and who they are.
He said the inability to conduct a population census in the last 16 years has created an information vacuum, noting that data from the last census conducted in 2006 has been rendered less useful for planning purposes.
”It has therefore become imperative for the nation to conduct another National Census to produce a new set of demographic and socio-economic data that will provide the basis for national planning and sustainable development.
”Population is a critical factor in a nation’s efforts toward achieving sustainable development. The people are both the agents and beneficiaries of the development process. Knowledge of the national population in terms of size, distribution and socio-economic characteristics is required for planning purposes. This, therefore, makes the conduct of census an essential governance activity,” he said.
Buhari, while projecting the nation’s population at 216,783,381, said Nigeria is the sixth most populous country in the world, the most populous country in Africa and is also projected to be the third most populous country in the World by the year 2050 after India and China. He regreted that irregular and long interval of census is denying the nation its benefits.
