From Fred Itua, Abuja
National Population Commission (NPC) on Friday, said the N200 billion spent so far for preparation of the national population and housing census was between 2014 and 2023, covering a period of nine years.
The commission at a news conference said it was reacting to claims that the commission had squandered N200 billion in just one year (2023).
In May, the Chairman of the NPC, Nasir Isa-Kwarra, in a meeting with media executives in Abuja, announced that N200 billion had been spent for the conduct of the census. However, the NPC at a media briefing in Abuja on Friday, said it was true that N200 billion has been spent on census but that the money expended was between 2014 and 2023.
Director Public Affairs, NPC, Isiaka Yahaya, while briefing newsmen, stated that part of the N200 billion was expended before the coming of the present commission, which was inaugurated twice between 2018 and 2020 and even before the inception of the Buhari-led Administration.
He said: “Consistent with global practice and inspired by an unswerving commitment to positively rewrite the history of census in Nigeria, the commission opted to conduct a digital census deploying technology on a massive scale.
“In a country struggling with acute infrastructural deficit, this massive undertaking can not come cheap but at a huge cost. Yes, it is true that N200 billion has been spent on preparations for the 2023 Census so far.
However, this fund was not expended in the last few weeks, months or years but rather since 2014 when preparations for the 2023 Census actually began.”
