Abdulkareem Lawan, Speaker of the Borno State House of Assembly, has congratulated President Muhammadu Buhari for postponing the national population and housing census, which was originally slated for May 2023.
Speaking to journalists in Maiduguri on Saturday, he argued that the majority of people from the 10 local government areas in Northern Borno, who have been displaced within the country or taken refuge in neighbouring Niger, Chad, and Cameroon Republic for over a decade due to Boko Haram terror, needed to be counted.
According to Lawan, performing the 2023 census would violate the human rights of a sizable community of IDPs and refugees.
“Honestly, I commend President Muhammadu Buhari for postponing the National Population and Housing Census scheduled for May 2023,” the helmsman of the Borno State Legislature said, reasoning, “Majority of our people from the 10 local government areas in Northern Borno, especially, Guzamala, Abadam, Kukawa, Marte and Mobbar are still displaced, while others are taking refuge in neighbouring Niger, Chad and Cameroun Republic for over a decade.”
He said the rescheduling of the census would enable all the IDPs and refugees to return to their ancestral homes to be counted among their fellow Nigerians.