The House of Representatives on Monday expressed concern over the readiness of the National Population Commission to conduct a population and housing census across the country.
The lawmakers who spoke during the review of the 2024 budget performance, expressed misgivings at the distortions in the documents on the 2024 budget performance submitted to the Committee by its Chairman, Mr Jimi Odimayo.
As contained in the document titled, ‘2023 census strategy and implementation plan’, presented to the Committee, the sum of N841,97bn was budgeted for the 2023 population and housing census to take care of pre-enumeration, actual enumeration and the post enumeration activities.
According to the Commission’s 2024 Appropriation of N12.77bn, the sum of N1.13bn was allocated for capital expenditure, N818,93bn for overhead 8,272 while N10.82bn was allocated for personnel cost.
While giving details on the performance of capital expenditure, Chairman of the Commission, Nasiru Kwara disclosed that the sum of N1.1bn was released and fully utilised (representing 97.38 per cent released to date), leaving the balance of N29.54m.
Things took a new turn when Lagos lawmaker, Okey Onuakalusi noted that the supplementary budget approved for the NPC in 2024 was still being investigated, which prompted the Committee’s visit to the Central Bank of Nigeria.
He also faulted the NPC Chairman for allegedly misleading the Committee by presenting a 97.38 per cent budget performance on Capital Expenditure for the anticipatory release.
Onuakalusi said: “What you told us here is anticipatory funds. So if they’re anticipatory funds based on budget performance, it means that they are subject to query because you’re claiming 97.38 per cent.
“I know from the fact that many of the percentages here are anticipatory funds. Now, if it’s anticipatory funds, how are we sure that the budget performance given to us is correct? Because they don’t act on anticipatory funds and expect results. That’s why you must establish what percentage of the money you have gotten. Is it 40 per cent or 60 per cent?”
Meanwhile, the NPC proposed N18.28bn for capital expenditure in 2025, N1.17 bn as overhead and N17.76bn as personnel cost but the lawmakers chided the commission for what they call an ‘abysmally low’ capital expenditure proposal.
From the total sum of N18.28bn proposed as capital expenditure for 2025, the Commission is to spend N1.1bn on the national population and housing census; N4bn on the purchase of official vehicles; N12bn on the construction of permanent office buildings; and N350m on the expansion of registration centres and registration of birth and death, ad-hoc registration, among others.
This is as the NPC also proposed N40m for census research, documentation and archiving (research on historical events, special populations-herdsmen, fishermen, homeless persons, migrant farmers, etc.
Others include N90m on the commemoration of World Population Day/Annual Population Census Day; N35m on the generation of statistics for internal and international migration in Nigeria and N50m on budget preparation and implementation and verification of fixed assets.
For the personnel cost in the 2025 fiscal year, the Commission proposed N2.38bn as regular allowances, N1.21bn as contributory pension, N12.57bn for salary and N606.83m, for National Health Insurance Scheme, totalling N16.76bn.
While briefing the lawmakers on the reasons for the aborted conduct of the population census, Kwara disclosed that the Commission was about 80 per cent ready for the exercise.
“We had prepared almost up to 80 per cent for the conduct of census 2023, but somehow because of transition and other exigencies, the then President decided that we should allow the incoming administration to take over the leadership of the conduct of the census.
“The preparation is still ongoing, but I would like to report that we lost out on conducting our census under the 2020 rounds of census. So new rules are up under the 2030 rounds of the census that require some adjustments to consider,” stressing that the NPC is rethinking the entire for 2026.
According to him, while deciding to postpone the population census, the Federal Executive Council anticipated the need for the conduct of the population and housing census 17 years after the last exercise.