Balarabe Musa urges hitch-free national census in 2016

Alhaji Balarabe Musa, National Chairman of the People’s Redemption Party (PRP), has called for a hitch-free national census in 2016.

The former Kaduna State Governor made the call in a telephone interview with the News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) on Thursday.

He recalled that the previous exercises had been marred by controversies and stressed the need for the forthcoming national census to be done with efficiency and in the overall interest of good governance.

“There is need for a national census. It is an essential thing for the proper administration of the affairs of the country.

“Proper administration of the affairs of the country requires to know how many people we are.’’

Balarabe stressed that it was only through a census that development projections could be arrived at.

“This is very necessary for planning purposes, how to plan to take care of the welfare of the people in particular.

“Unfortunately, we have never held a reliable and acceptable census in this country and one of our problem is how we can have accurate, reliable and accessible census for the purpose of planning.

“Every census is disputed. I hope we can now have a census which is not disputed.

“But then, if we cannot avoid unnecessary dispute, if we cannot get a realistic census, it is better we pay attention to other problems.’’

NAN reports that President Muhammadu Buhari had, in August 2015, said that Nigeria would require a total of N273 billion to successfully conduct 2016 national census.

Nigeria held its last census in March 2006.