The National Assembly Joint Committee on Appropriations has assured that the postponed national census will be conducted in the first quarter of 2024.
Chairman of the Committee on Appropriations, Adeola Olamilekan, gave the assurance on Tuesday when the Senate Committee on National Population Commission submitted its reports of budget defence for the 2024 fiscal year to the appropriations committee.
A review of the proposed budget presented by President Bola Tinubu for the 2024 fiscal year showed that there was no line in the budget of the Ministry of Budget and National Planning for the conduct of the conduct of the national census.
It was also not provided for in the budgets of the Presidency and Office of the Chief of Staff.
There is no allocation for census in the proposed 2024 budget.
But, Mr Olamilekan, the senator representing Ogun West, pledged adequate financial allocation support for the Nigeria Population Commission (NPC) to conduct the headcount next year.
He assured that the NPC will be accommodated and get an allocation in the budget to conduct the census.
The senator urged concerned authorities in the NPC to appear before it and present requirements for the conduct of the census.
"Let me assure you that the country will not lose and we are going to work very closely with them, that 25 per cent component is included. We must find a way to accommodate it in this 2024 budget.
"We would like the agency to appear along with the chairman of the committee, a synopsis of the idea of what is really going on about the issue of census and whatever the issues are.
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"I can assure that we will resolve it and the population census will come up by the first quarter of 2024".
Over N200 billion spent on census
Abdul Ningi, chairman of the Senate Committee on National Population Commission complained that the NPC had spent over N200 billion for the planning of the census before it was postponed.
Mr Ningi (PDP, Bauchi) explained that the country will lose the financial resources already committed to organising the national census if the NPC is not allowed to continue with the exercise.
"They will appear tomorrow (Wednesday) with proper documentation of how much they need. If we don't get the money, the nation will lose, the people will lose.
"The money spent for the preparation for the census will go down the drain and it is a humongous amount of money, over N200 billion already spent. That is my take" Mr Ningi said.
