The Labour Party presidential candidate, Peter Obi, has hailed the federal government over its decision to postpone the 2023 census.
Recall that President Muhammadu Buhari, in a statement signed by the Minister of Information and Culture, Lai Mohammed, and released Saturday morning, approved the postponement of the 2023 Population and Housing Census, earlier scheduled for May 3-7 2023, to a date to be determined by the incoming administration.
The President gave the approval after meeting with some members of the Federal Executive Council and the Chairman of the National Population Commission, Nasir Isa-Kwarra, and his team at the Presidential Villa in Abuja on Friday, April 28, 2023.
Reacting to the decision, Obi, who is a former Anambra State governor, said the federal government had done the right thing by postponing the exercise.
Describing the postponement as a “propitious and welcome development”, Obi said conduction of
national census requires effective and comprehensive planning because it is a critical development and nation-building tool.
In a series of tweets on his Twitter handle on Saturday, “Even though Nigeria is long overdue for a census, conducting one requires proper planning and diligence to ensure the sanctity of the results; the efficacy of the data gathered therefrom, as well as their utility in driving national development goals,
“Our living standards and growing national housing deficits. It is hoped that when eventually the census is conducted, it will serve as confidence-building measures instead of being fraught with the usual controversy