President of the Senate, Ahmad Lawan, has said that Nigeria is long overdue for another population census, without which proper planning cannot be achieved.
He stated this in his concluding remarks after the Senate confirmed 12 nominees as Chairman and Commissioners of the National Population Commission (NPC).
Lawan recalled that the last population census carried out by the country was in 2006, making Nigeria overdue for another exercise which ought to be undertaken at the end of ten years.
He said, “A population census is supposed to be undertaken every ten years. We need to know how many we are exactly, and that is what will aid us in planning our country,” Lawan.
Earlier, the Senate on Thursday confirmed the nominees for the Chairman and Commissioners of the NPC after considering a report by the Committee on National Identity and National Population.
In his presentation, Chairman of the Committee, Senator Saidu Alkali, stated that the appointment of the nominees satisfied the requirement of Section 154(1) of the 1999 Constitution of the Federal Republic of Nigeria as amended.
According to him, the nominees “demonstrated sufficient knowledge of Nigerian demography, Enumeration Area Demarcation (EAD), Census, Data collection and Analysis.”
The nominees confirmed by the Upper Chamber are Nasir Isa Kwarra, Chairman (Nasarawa State); Ibrahim Mohammed (Bauchi State); Ajayi Sunday (Ekiti State); Joseph K. Shazin (FCT); Garba. Zakar (Jigawa State); and Bala Banye (Katsina State).
Others are Gidado Folorunso (Kwara State); Bimbola Salu-Hundeyin (Lagos State); Ali Agara (Nasarawa State); Mohammed Dattijo (Sokoto State); Mai Aliyu Muhammad (Yobe State) and Muhammad Rini (Zamfara State).
