Nigeria has postponed a census due to take place next week. The census had been scheduled for May 3-7, but the Information Ministry said more time was needed to plan for it. It will now be conducted by in-coming Bola Tinubu administration.
The results of the census affect the sharing of oil revenues and political representation among the 36 states and 300 ethnic groups in Nigeria. Previous counts were discredited after disputes among the three main ethnic groups, the Hausa, Yoruba and Igbo.
The National Population Commission has said Nigerians will not be asked about their ethnicity and religion during the census due to “the sensitive nature of these issues and the need to save the census data from needless controversies and attention.
Nigeria’s population is estimated at more than 200 million and the UN expects that figure to double by 2050. That would make Nigeria the world’s third most populous country, behind China and India, overtaking the United States.
SOURCE : SABC
