It will cost the Federal Government N869 billion to conduct this year’s Population and Housing Census, according to the Minister of State for Budget and National Planning, Clem Agba. He said this at a highlevel engagement for the 2023 Population and Housing in Abuja on Monday. According to him, N626 billion ($1.36 billion) will be spent on pre and during the census, with N243 billion spent on post-census.
He said the government had already committed N291.5 billion ($632 million) to the project. The minister said: “So far, the government has committed N291.5 billion ($632m) to the census, making it 46 percent of total funding for the census. An additional (immediate) sum of N327.2 billion ($709.9m) is required to complete the census.” While stating that N327.2 billion was required to complete the census, Agba said government funding has been from the budget and federation account.
The event was organised to seek the support of the private sector and international donors to contribute to the success of the census. Agba stated that the census was initially planned for 2022, but was moved to 2023 due to funding challenges.
He said the high cost of the exercise is due to the usage of digital gadgets with the transmission of the census in real-time. The Minister of Finance, Budget and National Planning, Dr Zainab Ahmed said the census would be Green Census involving the use of digital maps, digital questionnaires and cloud computing to ensure compliance with the global climate change campaign for the reduction of emissions by 30 per cent. The United Resident and Humanitarian Coordinator in Nigeria, Mathias Schmale, stated that achieving a credible census in Nigeria would serve as a foundation of sustainable development. He said the exercise is capital intensive, therefore, would be difficult for the Federal Government to conduct it on its own. Schmale said: “In this regard having international partners is necessary. There is a sizable gap that can be bridged to get the census to the finishing line.” The National Population Commission (NPC) Chairman, Nasir Kwarra assured donors that the funds would be used judiciously.
