NPC To Meet With FG Today
National Population and Housing Census in Nigeria may be postponed due to funding and other logistic challenges, less than a week to its commencement.
The Chairman of the National Population Commission, Nasir Isa-Kwarra, revealed that the commission would meet with the Federal Government on Friday to validate the May 3 fixed date for the census. Isa-Kwarra disclosed this information during a meeting with the Diplomatic Corps in Abuja.
He also stated that there would be a restriction of movement during the first three days of the census enumeration, with the exemption of diplomats and all those on essential duties.
The commission is yet to procure all the devices required for the census, and some devices will be procured in a few days’ time. The Director of Public Affairs, NPC, Isiaka Yahaya declined to comment on the possibility of the census holding, but he affirmed that there would be a restriction of movement during the census when a date is fixed.
A source close to the NPC officer in Edo revealed that the date was likely to be shifted because the supervisors and other key officers that would take part in the headcount exercise were yet to be fully trained.
Meanwhile, the Federal High Court, Abuja, refused a request seeking an order postponing the census scheduled to hold from May 3 to 5. Some women from the Internally Displaced Persons’ camps in Benue State staged a peaceful protest at the state office of the NPC in Makurdi, demanding the postponement of the census because they fear they may not be counted in their communities.
Also, the National Commissioner for the NPC in Kwara state, Abdulrazaq Gidado, admitted that there were problems in terms of payment of the allowances of the trained facilitators but the Commission is trying to sort out some things.
