Nigerian government fixes date to conduct first census in 17 years

The Evangelist
January 21, 2023

The National Population Commission (NPC) has fixed the national population and housing census for March 29 to April 1, 2023.

This was disclosed by Nasir Kwarra, the NPC Chairman on Friday, January 20, 2023, while speaking with State House correspondents after meeting with President Muhammadu Buhari at the Villa, Abuja.

“By March 29 to April 2, our staff will be in the field enumerating people,” Kwarra said.

The NPC helmsman added that the technological tools to be deployed would be able to code building and landmass, detailing information such as location, landscapes among others.

The NPC chairman, who said his commission would ensure a credible exercise, added that non-Nigerians would equally be counted as long as they are in the country at the time of the exercise.

Recall that the last census was held in August 2006.

That exercise put the country’s population at 140.43 million – 71.3 million males and 69.0 million females.

The 2023 Census is expected to be a detailed enumeration of the Nigerian population and it will be the fifth national census in the country since its Independence in 1960.

The 2023 Census according to reports would gulp over N400bn.