2018 census to cost N272 bn – NPC

New York – The proposed 2018 national population
census will cost an estimated N272 billion, the Director-
General of the National Population Commission (NPC),
Dr Ghaji Bello, has said.
Census
Bello said in New York that the Federal Government was
expected to fund the exercise by only 51 per cent while
the international donor community would fund the
remaining 49 per cent.
“The submission we have made to the Federal
Government is in the region of N272 billion. But the good
thing is that that the N272 billion is not for one single
year.
“It is spread along a four-year tenure. There’s pre-census
activities, that is the preparation; the actual census
proper itself and the post-census enumeration activities.
“So maybe you are looking at an average of maybe N40
billion in the first year, another N100 billion during the
actual census itself and then the balance during the last
year.
“But the beauty again is that not all the resources are
normally provided by the government of the federation.
“The international community does come in and
supporters like EU, USAID ; from the previous record
that we have, the ratio is 51 to 49 per cent.
“The 51 per cent is provided by the Federal Government
while the 49 per cent is provided by the international
donor community.
“Therefore, it is something that once government makes
a proclamation, then it means that the country is ready
and the international community will come and support
the government,” he said.
Bello also said there was the need for the government to
leverage on the international community to help with the
necessary assistance, adding that this would go a long
way in defraying the cost.
“Normally, there is no country that does census on its
own and more so, it is a very capital-intensive activity.
Funding is important because we have to demarcate.
“There is an exercise that is called Enumeration Area
Demarcation which is supposed to be the foundation or
the building block of census.
“And that is supposed to be carried out in every hamlet,
every village, every local government, every household
and then the entire nation.
“That is normally a costly exercise, very expensive. And
of course, up till now we have only been able to do 74
local governments out of 774.
“It means we have done only 10 per cent. So for us to
be able to do the remaining 700 local governments, it
means there is a lot of work to do.
“Essentially we are on track; we have the capacity in-
house but again there are quite a number of things,
unless you are funded, you won’t be able to move
forward,’’ Bello said.
According to him, census will enable the government to
have correct data about its citizens in order to aid proper
planning.
“ That planning means you are going to optimise in terms
of your allocation of resources to those sectors that
really need that intervention.
“Census has implication for trade, for manufacturing and
for security because we will have the biometrics of
every Nigerian.
“Then it means making life easy for security outfits like
the police, EFCC, ICPC and the military because you can
monitor even the scene of crime from the data that you
have collected.
“So serious countries actually collect data and it is the
data that they use in order to govern their society,” he
said.