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The Chairman of the National Population Commission (NPC), Samaila Danko Makama, has called on the states that have gone to census tribunal to be cautiousness of the need for the country to stabilize in order to face other national issues that helps in making progress.
While he described the 2006 headcount as credible, Makama insisted that states seeking redress at the tribunal over census figures are doing so for the selfish reason of increasing their statutory allocations from the federal purse.
Speaking in Jalingo, Taraba State (North-east Nigeria), the NPC boss observed that “every state has gone to court, including even those that have the highest population. The state that has the highest population and 44 local councils went to court”.
But Makama expressed satisfaction over the way the cases were gradually being thrown out by the tribunal, saying that, the commission is being vindicated.
He said: “I believe that the cases were politically motivated because population figures constituted one of the parameters for revenue allocation.
“People want to get more population so that they can get more funds. It also constitutes the parameters for the delineation of electoral constituencies; hence many states and local councils want higher figures so that they can get more constituencies”.
Makama, who disclosed that he was in Taraba to monitor the on-going National Demographic and House Survey (NDHS), expressed surprise that all the states decided to engage the commission in legal actions “after everybody had accepted that the census was credible and reliable”.
Admitting that “no 100 per cent coverage has ever been achieved anywhere in this world in any census” Makama charged the media to analyze the census figures instead of describing them as controversial.
He added: “It is not an exercise that is perfect because there is no perfection in any human endeavour.
“The census is not meant to divide us but to unite us as a nation so as to plan effectively, especially for the government to make available the much-needed infrastructural facilities to the people.
“If you have adequate information on education, the number of children who are of school-age, then you will be able to plan for the optimum number of schools in a local council.
“The problem we have with water supply in this country for instance, is because the population is growing, whereas the infrastructural facilities are not being expanded to cope with the growing population”.
The Chairman of the National Population Commission (NPC), Samaila Danko Makama, has called on the states that have gone to census tribunal to be cautiousness of the need for the country to stabilize in order to face other national issues that helps in making progress.
While he described the 2006 headcount as credible, Makama insisted that states seeking redress at the tribunal over census figures are doing so for the selfish reason of increasing their statutory allocations from the federal purse.
Speaking in Jalingo, Taraba State (North-east Nigeria), the NPC boss observed that “every state has gone to court, including even those that have the highest population. The state that has the highest population and 44 local councils went to court”.
But Makama expressed satisfaction over the way the cases were gradually being thrown out by the tribunal, saying that, the commission is being vindicated.
He said: “I believe that the cases were politically motivated because population figures constituted one of the parameters for revenue allocation.
“People want to get more population so that they can get more funds. It also constitutes the parameters for the delineation of electoral constituencies; hence many states and local councils want higher figures so that they can get more constituencies”.
Makama, who disclosed that he was in Taraba to monitor the on-going National Demographic and House Survey (NDHS), expressed surprise that all the states decided to engage the commission in legal actions “after everybody had accepted that the census was credible and reliable”.
Admitting that “no 100 per cent coverage has ever been achieved anywhere in this world in any census” Makama charged the media to analyze the census figures instead of describing them as controversial.
He added: “It is not an exercise that is perfect because there is no perfection in any human endeavour.
“The census is not meant to divide us but to unite us as a nation so as to plan effectively, especially for the government to make available the much-needed infrastructural facilities to the people.
“If you have adequate information on education, the number of children who are of school-age, then you will be able to plan for the optimum number of schools in a local council.
“The problem we have with water supply in this country for instance, is because the population is growing, whereas the infrastructural facilities are not being expanded to cope with the growing population”.
