The National Population Commission (NPC) has proposed a budget of 222 billion Naira to conduct a fresh national census in 2018.
The Chairman of the commission, Mr Eze Duruiheoma, announced the budget proposal at a meeting with the Senate Committee on Population and Identity Card.
The lawmakers on Monday made an oversight visit to the NPC Headquarters in Abuja, Nigeria’s capital.
Mr Duruiheoma noted that the proposed sum would be used to enhance the conduct of a technology-based census using the Direct Data Capture machine.
On his part, the Chairman of the committee, Senator Suleiman Hunkuyi, acknowledged that 2018 was the most ideal year to conduct a census before the general elections.
He, however, said that President Muhammadu Buhari would have to give a proclamation first.
The legislator also noted that the budget was huge in the face of Nigeria’s recession and urged the commission to employ other sources of funding once the President assents the budget.
The committee equally probed the application of the NPC’s 4.4 billion Naira 2016 budgetary allocation and its uncompleted permanent site, ten years after the contract was awarded.
