The Chairman of the National Population Commission (NPC), Nasir Kwarra, on Tuesday disclosed that the country’s population figure is now officially 206 million.
Kwarra, said this while briefing reporters in Abuja on the commencement of the next Enumeration Area Demarcation.
Kwarra said since Nigeria had not been able to hold a census in the last 14 years, it would be difficult to know the exact population of the country.
His words: “In the absence of actual census, we formally do projections and we have all along been doing our projections and we estimate that as of 2020, the estimated population of Nigeria 206 million”.
Asked when the next population census will take place, He said President Muhammadu Buhari had the sole right to announce the next census.
Kwarra, however, said he was certain that Buhari would do the needful soon, adding that the commission is working on getting Buhari to make the proclamation.
Buhari had last two months approved N10 billion for the NPC to enable the commission to continue its Enumeration Area Demarcation (EAD) in 540 local government areas across the country.
The president also approved an additional N4. 5 billion to be included in the 2021 Budget for the completion of preparation for the next census.
While announcing the commencement of the Enumeration Area Demarcation exercise, Kwarra said about 260 local government areas out of the 774 in the country had been fully demarcated.
He stated that the 11th phase of the exercise would begin on December 9, 2020, and end on January 20, 2011.
The NPC boss said: “Planning for the census is anchored on the EAD as the basis for estimating both the human and material resources required for the census. In essence, the success of a credible and accurate census depends very much on the quality and reliability of the EAD.”
Kwarra explained that the EAD exercise is not the enumeration of persons living in the country but a preparatory exercise before the census.
He said the NPC would be assisting the Independent National Electoral Commission to create digitised maps of INEC registration areas for the first time as part of the EAD.
He said this collaboration would positively affect future elections.
Kwarra further stated that: “It is important to state that the latest technology is being deployed for this EAD exercise, including the use of very high-resolution satellite imageries as the base map, the use of GPS for georeferencing and the use of GIS for data management.
“Also, personal data assistants (handheld devices/tablets) that include computer software for population estimation are being used for data capture.”
He also disclosed that data can also be used to tackle the security situation in the country.
