Federal Government, on Wednesday, shifted the population and housing census earlier scheduled for March 29 to May.
Minister of Information and Culture, Lai Mohammed, announced the development at the end of the Federal Executive Council meeting presided over by President Muhammadu Buhari in Abuja.
Mohammed told State House correspondents that the decision to shift the census was necessitated by the change in the date for the gubernatorial election from to March 11 to March 18.
He added that FEC approved the sum of N2.8 billion for the National Population Commission to procure software to be used for the conduct of the census.
The Minister said, “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.”
Federal Government had said over $1.88 billion (N869 billion) was needed to conduct the exercise.
Federal Government had announced in April 2022 that it would conduct the census in April 2023 after the elections.
Minister of State for Budget and National Planning, Clement Agba, had disclosed that the Federal Government had provided 46 percent of the budget.
Agba, however, outstanding of N327.2 billion was still needed to carry out the census effectively.
