BY; ABDULL-AZEEZ AHMED KADIR.
The Senator representing Kaduna Central, Senator Shehu Sani has cautioned the National Population Commission, NPC against the inclusion of ethnicity and religion in the 2018 proposed population census exercise.
Writing through his twitter handle @shehusani, the Senator said “The population commission plans to include religion & ethnicity in the proposed 2018 census; Now this path must be threaded with caution.”
It would be recalled that these two; religion and ethnicity has been a serious issue of contention on previous census in Nigeria. Before now, basic information on residents, sex, age, occupation, education and marital status of the citizens were used.
It would be recalled that the National Population Commission solicited the support of the Legislative and Executive arms of government to come up with a review of the census Act that would make it mandatory for the commission to conduct its exercise every 10 years.
Nigeria conducted her last census in 2006, a situation analyst describes as unhealthy for the development of the nation.
Dr. Ghaji Bello explained that it is only when census is made a constitutional matter that the periodic exercise could be guaranteed.
The commission also said it has made proper arrangements for the capturing of the Internally Displaced persons (IDPs) in the planned 2018 Census.
The NPC was established by the Federal Government in 1988. It has the statutory powers to collect, analyze and disseminate demographic data in the country. It is also mandated to undertake demographic sample surveys, compile, collate and publish migration and civil registration statistics as well as monitor the country’s Population Policy.
