18th June, 2024
The Federal Commissioner representing Osun State at the National Population Commission, NPC, Dr Amidu Tadese says the sensitive nature of a population census means it is not something to be rushed.
Tadese who was recently speaking to newsmen in Oshogbo, said the Population and Housing census planned from May 3-6, 2023, would have failed the integrity test if it had held.
He said: “The last administration of President Muhammadu Buhari attempted to conduct a census in 2023. We don’t need to be told that the timing of last year’s census was designed ab initio not to hold because the government was supposed to depart on May 29.
“The election just took place and people were still contending with several issues around it. Meanwhile, the census itself comes with a lot of complaints. We witnessed the 2006 census, where some states of the federation disagreed with the figure and went ahead to conduct an independent census of their citizens.
“If another census was allowed to take place, the result would not have been accepted by the majority of the citizens. So, the then-president took the right decision by suspending it to allow the coming administration to settle down and address the issue.”