Senator Shehu Sani has questioned the planned spending of over N800 billion to count 200 million people by the federal government in conducting census in Nigeria.
The federal government had earlier revealed that the sum of N869 billion would be required to conduct population and housing census in the country by the National Population Commission.
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According to the FG, “a total of N869 billion ($1.88 billion) would be required for the census, including post-census activities.
“N626 billion ($1.36 billion) would be disbursed for census ($6 per capita), while N243 billion ($527 million) would be disbursed for post-census activities unto 2025.”
This budget proposal was, however, made in the administration of former President Muhammadu Buhari. Meanwhile, the administration of President Bola Tinubu has not said anything to the contrary on the N800 billion census budget while preparing for the next head count in the country.
Apparently, Senator Shehu Sani, in an overt disquieting note, declared:
Senator Shehu Sani
@ShehuSani
“Blowing N800bn to count 200m people.”
Some other stakeholders have argued that while the census provides government with data for planning and resource allocation, the country already has data systems winch include the National Identification Number (NIN), Bank Verification Number (BVN), Permanent Voter’s card, as well as birth and death registrations, none of which has been effectively utilized to project Nigeria’s population.
The stakeholders further argued that the N869 billion census budget is being project by the federal government when Nigeria has a burden of over N77 trillion debt profile.
Shehu Sani might have been arguing along this direction also.