NPC holds National Census April next year, 17 yrs after Last Exercise

The Federal Government is planning to conduct the National Population Census April 2023.

The Chairman of the National Population Commission (NPC), Nasir Isa-Kwarra, made this disclosure at the end of the virtual meeting of the Council of State, presided over by President Muhammadu Buhari on Thursday in Abuja.

The last population and housing census in Nigeria took place in 2006.

According to the latest census figures and projections from Trading Economics, the total population in Nigeria was estimated at 206.14 million people in 2020.

The NPC Chairman, Isa-Kwarra revealed that the national census will be held after the general election, slated for February and March 2023.

Isa-Kwarra disclosed that the commission would deploy high technology in the conduct of the national census.

The NPC Boss said: “The National Population Commission is to conduct a Pilot Census in June this year, after the political parties’ primary elections.

“It is very crucial to hold a census because it is a very important exercise for the nation.

“This is because through census, we generate the data that we use for policy making, for planning, for development, by the three tiers of government, and the private sector, they all need this.

“If you are a private sector, you’re producing something; certainly, you need to know the population of an area if you want to create a market there.

“So, census data is very crucial, very important. Because, the data we’ve been using are just projections, estimation. And are sort of obsolete, we need the actual census data to use for our planning.’’

The 2006 census placed Lagos State in the South as the second most populous state with 9.0 million people.

Overall, the 2006 census stated that the North had a higher population than the South.

The census results show that the northern states account for 75 million people, while the southern states have 65 million populations.