The opposition has accused the Federal Government of failing to explain what happened to the N234bn released for the aborted national census because it diverted the money for the 2023 electioneering campaign.
Under former President Muhammadu Buhari, the National Population Commission proposed a budget of approximately N800bn for the 2023 Population and Housing Census.
By May 2023, a total sum of N224bn had already been disbursed, in addition to N10bn approved in October 2020 for Enumeration Area Demarcation across 546 Local Government Areas.
Originally scheduled for May 2023, the census was postponed to allow the next administration to provide input.
However, 17 months into his presidency, President Bola Tinubu has not announced a new date for the exercise, raising concerns about the implications for governance, economic planning and resource allocation.
Speaking with Sunday PUNCH, the National Publicity Secretary of the Labour Party, Obiora Ifoh, claimed that the current administration might not have an answer to what happened to the money released.
According to him, it was obvious from the start that census money released by the of Buhari administration was originally meant to prosecute and tilt the 2023 election in favour of the ruling party.
He said, “In the last eight years of Muhammed Buhari, this issue of census has come up, and we have never seen it happen. Most of the years, the money released for census matters either just fly away or get swallowed by snakes. Yet, we have never seen any census conducted.
“In a saner clime, census is held every five years or thereabouts. But in Nigeria, it takes about 10 or 20 years to conduct one. Again, in the case of Nigeria, monies are budgeted almost every year.
“Now, if that chunk of money was released a few months before the election but failed to hold and nobody accounted for it, it does not take anyone to decipher why the money disappeared. It was obviously used to execute the election and the person in charge of the population census has not come out to tell us what happened to the money.
“Has the money been returned to the Central Bank or is it cooling in one house? We expect the security agencies to demand and request the money. What has happened to it? If the money has not been used or appropriated, it should be returned to the coffers of the Federal Government.”
But the ruling party kicked, saying there was no iota of truth in the allegation.
Reacting in an interview with our correspondent, the Deputy National Organising Secretary of the APC, Nze Duru explained that the census programme was a national assignment that was on course and would eventually be facilitated by the APC administration.
He said, “I do not see any concern. I believe that is something that will happen and I know it will happen shortly. We cannot have any provision in the budget without capturing the population of the country and where the people are resident. So, it’s something that we require, and I know efforts are ongoing to ensure it happens.
“We cannot continue to play politics with critical data that is required to enable the government to provide comprehensively and adequately for the people of this country. Do we need a population census to know the demography and numbers of Nigerians today? Yes, we do. But should it be an event? I do not think so.
“I believe it is something that must be updated hourly, daily, monthly and yearly. We should not wait for an event, a particular time, to determine the number of Nigerians in the country. The population is so critical for data, budgeting and provisioning of what Nigerians need.
“In providing the dividends of democracy, we cannot afford not to have that data done. There should not be any hullabaloo about it. It is something that can’t even be done without setting a milestone or a deadline on when this can be done.”
