The House of Representatives has asked Federal government to immediately stop plans to conduct national census following security situation in the country.
The motion was sponsored by Shehu Beji Barwa, who told his colleagues that if the exercise is allowed to go ahead, a lot of Nigerians will be denied the opportunity of being counted having been displaced by insurgency and insecurity across the land.
However, Speaker of the House, Hon. Femi Gbajabiamila, gave the advice, saying the exercise should be suspended until the country is safe enough.
A statement from the House of Representatives read, “Leading the debate on the motion, the 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.
“For instance, Beji said, the safety of enumerators would not be guaranteed in many parts of the country.
“He also stated that many households would be unwilling to make family members available for enumeration because of the fear of the unknown.
“He added that it would be unwise in the prevailing circumstances to post enumerators to some parts of the country currently considered to be volatile.
“Beji argued that the fact that many locations would not be reached by enumerators was enough a reason to suspend the planned exercise.
“The key prayer of his motion urged the House to “call on the @NigeriaGov to suspend the exercise until the security of the country stabilises.”
“The prayer was endorsed by the House in a majority voice vote.
“The House also invited the Chairman of the NPC, Nasir Isa Kwarra, to explain the feasibility of conducting a population and housing census in the country amid the current security challenges.”
Details shortly…
