Senator Kicks As NPC Budgets N400bn For May 2022 Census

There was a mild drama at the Senate Committee on Appropriation on Wednesday when the Chairman, Senate Committee on Aviation, Senator Smart Adeyemi, warned the Federal Government against conducting the 2022 national census.

He said going ahead with the exercise which would gulp over N400bn when no part of the country was safe for such an exercise to be effectively conducted made no sense.

Adeyemi, who is representing Kogi West Senatorial District at the red chamber, also argued that spending a whopping N400bn on census when there were unemployment and hunger in the land, did not make any economic sense.

He said, “I’m looking at this issue from a practical point of view. The only area that is a bit safe in Nigeria today is the South-West geopolitical zone. There is an assumption of tight security for people to move around there.

“All other zones in Nigeria today are unsafe. There are killings every day, especially in the northern region.

“Over three – quarter of those who have died in Nigeria are northerners. In Kogi State on Wednesday, gunmen took over a town for four hours and killed people.

“Census is important but it is definitely not expedient. Our people are dying daily. We must guarantee security, movement of goods and services or else we are deceiving ourselves.

“The NPC has determined to do the job, there is no doubt about your competence. However, between you and your God, you know Nigeria is not safe to conduct census today.

” You cannot go from Sokoto to Ilela, that is the truth. Nobody can move round again. Census is important but we need to be alive to conduct it.”

The Chairman of the National Population Commission, Alhaji Nasir Isa Kwarra, has proposed the sum of N400bn to conduct the exercise which he said would start in May next year.

He also allayed the fears of Nigerians on the issue of insecurity stressing that the security operatives would handle the situation..

He said, “Every Nigerian is worried about insecurity but it should not stop us from conducting census because we need to produce accurate data for policymakers to make policies that would enable the country to address many challenges including insecurity.

“Holidays would be declared when we want to conduct census. The security agents would take care of anyone found on the streets of Nigeria.”

Kwarra told the committee that the total estimate cost for the National Census slated for next year is N400bn .

He said, “Our initial proposal was N217bn which was presented about four years ago. However, due to inflation, naira devaluation and labour cost, we have to jerk it up.

“Our job is labour intensive and because we would employ over 1.5 million, we have to increase our budget to about N400bn.

The Senate Committee on Appropriation, at the end of the session, said the submission presented by the NPC would be added to the expected one from INEC on Monday next week.

The Chairman of the panel, Senator Barau Jibrin, however adopted the NPC proposals despite Adeyemi’s opposing views.

He said the proposals would form parts of his committee’s report which would be laid before the Senate for consideration and passage on Tuesday next week .