The federal government through the National Population Commission (NPC) has announced its proposal to conduct the long-awaited Nigerian Population and Housing Census in November 2024.

This proposal is subject to President Bola Ahmed Tinubu’s approval, the chairman of the commission, Nasir Isa Kwarra, said during a press conference marking the 2024 World Population Day.

Kwarra revealed that the commission is 70% prepared to conduct the census. According to him, the delay in obtaining accurate population data will not hinder Nigeria’s progress towards achieving the UN 2020 Round of Population & Housing Censuses.

Notably, Nigeria has not conducted a national census in the past 18 years, with the last attempt in 2023 being cancelled by former President Muhammad Buhari.

The NPC chairman expressed eagerness to proceed with the census, pending presidential approval.

He said, “In the beginning of the year, we wanted to conduct a census in November, but we are waiting for that nod. If that is given, we will swing into action and before the end of 2024 we will be able to conduct a very good census for Nigeria. We are still prepared. A lot of money has been spent. Since it is a digital census, we have over 760,000 PDAs that we are supposed to use for the census. This equipment has been bought for over a year now. With such equipment, if you don’t use them and the batteries go down, we run the risk of losing a lot of these facilities. It is important we have the resources to kick-start the process.”

The commission has also developed digital maps for the census and future surveys, aiming to provide comprehensive data to track every citizen in the country.

Meanwhile, the Statistician General of the Federation, Adeyemi Adeniran, said the census data is necessary in addressing poverty-related issues and driving national development.