The Nigerian Senate has asked President Muhammadu Buhari to issue a proclamation for a population and housing census to be held in 2018.
Moving the motion on the floor of the Senate, Senator Suleiman Hunkuyi expressed displeasure with the inability to conduct the exercise this year due to inadequate funding.
The lawmakers directed the Secretary to the Government of the Federation, the National Population Commission and other relevant agencies to make adequate provision in the 2018 budget as a critical prerequisite towards the proposed 2018 population census.
The last time Nigeria held a census was in 2006 and that exercise was steeped in controversy with allegations of fraud.
Many Nigerians complained of being left out of the exercise as well as boycotts, protests and enumerators complaining of not being paid for their work.
Regardless of these complaints, federal lawmakers are mindful of the importance of census to national planning and have asked the executive to abide by the recommendation of the United Nations that census be conducted every 10 years.
Some of the lawmakers also stressed the need for the provision of funds in the 2017 budget to aid planning for the census.
To address concerns of irregularities, the Deputy Senate President, Ike Ekweremadu, asked relevant agencies to take advantage of the development in technology to conduct a credible census exercise.
The Senate also asked relevant committees to join the Federal Government in the planning towards the forthcoming population census to achieve a credible exercise.
Courtesy: Channels Television