NPC’s Commissioner, Odibo Decries Lack Of Reliable Population Figures

Sir Richard Odibo, Commissioner representing Delta State in the National Population Commission, NPC, has decried the lack of accurate and reliable national Population figures in the country.

BIGPEN Online recalls that the UN Population Fund had reported in the 2019 State of the World Population Report that Nigeria’s population had risen to 201 million, the largest in Africa, with growth rate placed at an average of 2.6% from 2010 to 2019.

But NPC had insisted sometime in July that the country’s population remains within 190 million

Odibo, who however said that the commission was working round the clock to conduct another census in the country to determine the accurate figures, said that it was high time Nigeria deploy a system of data banking for easy national planning.

He spoke during a chat with some selected journalists in Warri, Delta state on Thursday.

According to him, the failure of successive governments to conduct census after the last one done in 2006, was inhibiting socioeconomic development of the country.

“The last census was done since 2006 and we are supposed to have another in 2016 which never came and it is not too good. If you don’t have an idea of the number of citizens you have, how do you plan”, he queried.

The Commissioner however expressed the commitment of NPC to ensure they carry out reliable population figures necessary for nation’s planning, adding that to arrive at a more accurate figure, the government has to conduct another census as the last one was 13 years ago.

Odibo, however call for peaceful coexistence among ethnic nationalities in the country, expressing worry that ‘politics’ rather than unite the people have divided the citizens across party lines.

He said, “politics shouldn’t be a dividing factor, rather see the opposition parties as partners in progress and not as “enemies”, he added.