The House of Representatives has called the Federal Government to suspend the planned 2021 population and housing census by the National Population Commission (NPC) due to insecurity in the country.
In its plenary on Wednesday, the House noted that the ‘country was unsafe for the exercise in view of the rising insecurity in Nigeria’.
The House, presided over by the Speaker, Femi Gbajabiamila, advised the Federal Government to ‘‘suspend the exercise till such a time the country was safe enough for it’’.
This resolution was passed following a motion moved by a member representing Bosso/Paikoro Federal Constituency of Niger State, Shehu Beji.
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The APC lawmaker told the House that ‘several factors would work against the accuracy of the figures that would be obtained and the overall success of the exercise due largely to insecurity.
”The safety of enumerators would not be guaranteed in many parts of the country,” he said.
He also stated that ‘many households would be unwilling to make family members available for enumeration because of the fear of the unknown.’
Beji said again ‘’that the fact that many locations would not be reached by enumerators was enough a reason to suspend the planned exercise.”
He therefore urged the House to “call on the Federal Government to suspend the exercise until the security of the country stabilizes.”
This was granted in a majority voice vote.