Census: HURIWA Wants National Population Commission Scrapped

CIVIl rights advocacy group, Human Rights Writers Association of Nigeria, (HURIWA), on Friday, asked President Bola Tinubu to scrap the National Population Commission (NPC), describing the commission as a money-wasting agency duplicating the functions of other agencies.

HURIWA, in a statement by its National Coordinator, Comrade Emmanuel Onwubiko, tackled the NPC Chairman, Nasir Isa Kwarra, for pushing tirelessly for the already failed census which had gulped N100bn taxpayers’ funds without any economic advantage to Nigerians.

The group questioned the existence of the NPC when its responsibility was already being performed by the National Identity Management Commission (NIMC) through the registration of the National Identification Number (NIN) for each individual which i
was now being linked to bank accounts, passports, and even by the Joint Admissions and Matriculation Board.

On Thursday, Kwarra said the President would announce new dates for Nigeria’s conduct of the national population and housing census, saying that further delay in the conduct of the census would incur additional expenses.

The census earlier scheduled for May 3 to 7, this year by the administration of ex-President Muhammadu Buhari was postponed to a date to be determined by the Tinubu administration.

Already, preparations for the exercise has already gulped N100bn out of the N200bn earmarked for the needless census.

HURIWA’s Onwubiko said, “This so-called census is a money guzzling scheme that yields no national economic benefits but it’s just a political gambit to justify fake and falsified population strength of some regions above others and used for political and economic advantage.

“The National Population Census should be abolished through a constitutional amendment process so the National Identity Management Commission (NIMC) and other data collection agencies be collapsed into one small presidential commission on national identity for identity management.

“Also, hospitals where births and deaths are recorded should be incorporated in the national identity management mechanism to determine the exact population of Nigeria.

“NPC is a waste and a duplication of what Nigeria already has achieved through the various registration of citizens carried out by different agencies including even the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC). Nigeria shouldn’t be investing public fund into a scheme that is just same as promoting a criminal empire.

“The President and the National Assembly should meet and set up a 10-person facts finding panel made up of statisticians and experts on population matters to hold public debate lasting a month and the bill passed into law by the National Assembly to amend the relevant section of the Constitution so Nigeria harmonises all the identity data collection agencies of government into one simple and lean national commission so we don’t continue to duplicate identity of Nigerians which is same as population count.”