President Muhammadu Buhari has approved the postponement of the 2023 Population and Housing Census, earlier scheduled for May 3-7 2023, to a date to be determined by the incoming administration.
The President gave the approval after meeting with some members of the Federal Executive Council and the Chairman of the National Population Commission and his team at the Presidential Villa in Abuja on Friday, April 28, 2023.
This was contained in a press statement signed by the Minister of Information and Culture, Lai Mohammed, and released on Saturday morning.
Although details of the circumstances leading to the postponement had yet to be released as of press time, THE CONCLAVE learnt that huge logistical challenges, worsened by inability to mobilise the needed funds accounted for the inevitable decision to postpone the significant exercise.
A whopping sum of over N800b had been budgeted for the exercise. The federal government had mobilized about N300b with more funding supports expected from international donor partners with UNFPA playing a supportive role in the effort to push through the exercise.
Despite the determined bid by the National Population Commission (NPC) to accomplish the task, its effort got discounted by a combination of factors that posed real threat to the credibility and integrity of the data expected to be generated from the exercise.
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