Nigerian Government has postponed the population and housing census earlier scheduled for March 29, 2023.
The Minister of Information and Culture, Lai Mohammed, who made this known to newsmen on Wednesday, said the national census will now hold in May.
Mohammed announced the development at the end of the Federal Executive Council (FEC) meeting presided over by President Muhammadu Buhari in Abuja.
According to him, decision to shift the exercise was necessitated by the rescheduling of the gubernatorial and state assembly elections from March 11 to March 18.
He also said that the council approved the sum of N2.8 billion for the National Population Commission (NPC) to procure software to be used for the conduct of the census.
“There was a memo presented by the National Population Commission, seeking some software to allow them to conduct the census in May this year. I believe because of the rescheduling of the elections, they cannot commence the census as scheduled.
“They sought Council’s approval for a contract to procure software for the census at the sum of N2.8 billion,” Mohammed said.
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