By Promise Eze
The National Population Commission (NPC) has said it’s looking to spend ₦2,800 to count each Nigerian in the 2023 National Population and Housing Census exercise.
This is in response to calls from concerned Nigerians and some groups who demanded a breakdown of how the commission’s N896 budget for the exercise will be expended.
Reacting to the calls, the Federal Commissioner of the NPC in Enugu State, Ejike Eze, said that the commission proposed to spend ₦2,800 to count each person, which he claimed is cheaper compared to what was spent by other countries.
Eze said this while speaking in Abuja on Sunday, April 15, 2023, adding that the NPC budget was the least when compared with the budgets of countries like the U.S. and Malawi.
“The U.S.A. spent between 12 dollars and 15 dollars (N5,760 –N7,200) to count a citizen, while Malawi spent nine dollars (N4,320) per citizen.
“In Nigeria, however, we are making a proposal to spend six dollars (N2,880) to count a citizen,” the NPC official said.
The exercise, scheduled to hold from May 3 to May 5, 2023, is the first census to be conducted in the most populous black nation since 2006.
