Dipo Olowookere
By Dipo Olowookere
The federal government needs to postpone the 2021 population and housing census being planned by the National Population Commission (NPC), the House of Representatives has advised.
The lower parliament gave this suggestion at the plenary on Wednesday, noting that the call for the suspension of the programme was due to the rising spate of insecurity in the country.
A member of the House representing Bosso/Paikoro Federal Constituency of Niger State, Mr Shehu Beji, had moved a motion today for the delay in the conduct of the 2021 census, arguing that Nigeria was presently unsafe for the exercise.
Leading the debate today, Mr Beji said the safety of enumerators would not be guaranteed in many parts of the country, adding that many households would be unwilling to make family members available for enumeration because of the fear of the unknown.
The lawmaker submitted that it would be unwise in the prevailing circumstances to post enumerators to some parts of the country currently considered to be volatile, arguing further that the fact that many locations would not be reached by enumerators was enough a reason to suspend the planned exercise.
The key prayer of his motion urged the House to “call on the federal government to suspend the exercise until the security of the country stabilises.”
The prayer was endorsed in a majority voice vote by the House presided over by the Speaker, Mr Femi Gbajabiamila, with the federal government urged to suspend the exercise till such a time the country was safe enough for it as the current factors would work against the accuracy of the figures that would be obtained and the overall success of the exercise due largely to insecurity.
The green chamber of the assembly, thereafter, invited the Chairman of the NPC, Mr Nasir Isa Kwarra, to explain the feasibility of conducting a population and housing census in the country amid the current security challenges.
