Panel set up to ensure adequate funding, planning for census, says Bagudu

The federal government says the eight-member committee inaugurated for the national population and housing census is an ad hoc body created to identify funding sources for the national exercise.

Last Wednesday, Femi Gbajabiamila, chief of staff (CoS) to President Bola Tinubu, inaugurated the committee at the State House, Abuja.

The committee is expected to submit its interim report to the president within three weeks.

Atiku Bagudu, minister of budget and economic planning, is the chairman of the committee, while Nasir Isa Kwarra, chairman of the National Population Commission (NPC), will serve as the secretary.

Other members of the committee are Olawale Edun, minister of finance and coordinating minister of the economy; Mohammed Idris, the minister of information and national orientation; Zach Adedeji, the chairman of the Federal Inland Revenue Service (FIRS); Bisoye Coker-Odusote, the director-general of the National Identity Management Commission (NIMC); Hakeem Muri-Okunola, the principal private secretary to the president; and Temilola Adekunle-Johnson, the senior special assistant to the president on administration and operations.

However, some critics condemned the composition of the committee’s membership, noting that it does not have full representation of all six geopolitical zones.

Speaking at the inaugural meeting of the committee on Monday, Bagudu said the committee is different from the NPC, which was legally created to plan, coordinate, and conduct population and housing censuses in the country.

The minister said the committee was created to “provide targeted guidance on specific areas of census planning and resourcing”.

Bagudu said members of the committee were “appointed based on their offices’ strategic responsibilities”.

“A national census is not a routine administrative exercise; it is a sovereign investment in evidence-based governance,” Bagudu was quoted as saying in a statement.

“As we confront new challenges in urbanisation, security, food systems, public health, and social protection, the need for up-to-date population and housing data is not simply desirable but foundational.

“The assignment before this committee is therefore urgent and consequential.”

He added that the committee’s role was to advise strictly within its five-point terms of reference.