President Buhari Approves Postponement of 2023 Census

President Muhammadu Buhari has approved the postponement of the 2023 Population and Housing Census, earlier scheduled for 3-7 May 2023, to a date to be determined by the incoming Administration.

President Buhari gave the approval after meeting with some members of the Federal Executive Council and the Chairman of national population commission and his team at the Presidential Villa in Abuja on Friday..

The Minister of Information and Culture, Lai Mohammed announced the postponement in a statement on Saturday.

In a tweet on the commission’s Twitter page, the President directed the Commission to continue with preparations for the conduct of the 2023 Population and Housing Census in order to sustain the gains already recorded and provide the basis for the incoming administration to consolidate these achievements.

The President noted that with the completion of the Enumeration Area Demarcation of the country, conduct of first and second pretests, the recruitment and training of adhoc workers.

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He also commended the methodology being put in place by the Commission to conduct accurate and reliable Census, especially the massive deployment of technology that is capable of delivering world class Census and laying a sustainable basis for future censuses

The meeting was attended by the Attorney General of the Federation and Minister of Justice, Mr Abubakar Malami; the Minister of Finance, Budget and National Planning, Mrs Zainab Ahmed; the Minister of Information and Culture, Alhaji Lai Mohammed, the Minister of State, Budget and National Planning, Mr Clem Agba and the Secretary to the Government of the Federation, Mr Boss Mustapha.

The census had witnessed many postponement due to different reasons including finance and logistics.

Nigeria last census was conducted 17 years ago under the administration of then President, Chief Olusegun Obasanjo.