The National Population and Housing Census, scheduled for 2023, has been delayed.
According to an anonymous National Population Commission Commissioner who spoke to The PUNCH on Friday, the commission is awaiting a date from President Bola Tinubu.
The NPC was on the verge of concluding the census process when it was suspended in 2022. The preparatory activities have been completed, but the training of census officials still needs to be done.
The Commissioner said that the commission is not looking at conducting the census in 2023, as it is already November, and the training process requires more than two months to complete.
“We were on the verge of concluding the census process when it was suspended. It means that we were ready at that time to complete the census process. Even presently we are prepared to continue with the process.
“However, President Bola Tinubu has the best information about when things can be done. We made a presentation to him. He promised to study the presentation and revert to the commission afterward.
“Most of the preparatory activities we must do have been done. We have started the training and once we have a nod, we shall continue with our training process.
“On our part, we are not looking at conducting a census this year. We are already in November.
“Even the training process requires more than two months to complete. We expect that there will be adequate budgetary provisions to conclude the process. But as soon as the president gives the nod, we will know how many months that we require to complete the process,” the source said.
