The Minister of State for Budget and National Planning, Clem Agba, has disclosed that the Federal Government plans to establish a basket fund to collect donations for the 2023 population and housing census.
He made this disclosure at a high-level partners engagement to seek support for the 2023 census in Abuja on Monday.
Agba noted that a total of N869bn is needed for the census, adding that the government committed N291,5bn with the need for an additional N327.2bn.
He said, “The total requirement for the census (including post census activities) is N869bn ($1.88bn): census requirement – N626bn ($1.36bn) which is about $6 per capita (just slightly above the threshold of up to $5 per capita); Post-Census (up to 2025) is N243bn ($527m).
“So far, the government has committed N291.5bn ($632m) to the census, making it 46 per cent of total funding for the census. An Additional (immediate) sum of N327.2bn ($709.9m) is required to complete the census.”
Agba further disclosed that the census exercise was to be conducted last year, but rescheduled for March 2023, but there is a recommendation that it should be held in May, 2023.
He said, “The last census in Nigeria was conducted in 2006. In 2014, the previous government proposed another census for 2016 in line with the UN recommendation for Decennial census.
“That administration, however, exited in 2015 without accomplishing the wish. From 2015 to 2016 the country slipped into a recession due to crash in oil price and production.
“In 2018/2019, government recommitted to the conduct of the census. In 2020, Covid-19 disrupted plans for the exercise. The census was rescheduled for March 2023, but now recommended to hold in May 2023. In 2021/2022, funds were appropriated for the Census. The Census was initially planned for 2022, but was moved to 2023, after the elections.”
