There's urgent need to conduit national census - Senator Umeh

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By Madu Obi

The Chairman of the Senate Committee on National Identity and Population, Senator Victor Umeh, has called on the Federal Government to expedite action on the conduct of a Population and Housing Census, warning that without it, Nigeria will continue to grope in the dark in terms of planning and development.

Umeh, who represents Anambra Central in the Senate, spoke during the launch of the 2025 State of the World Population Report, jointly organized by the National Population Commission (NPC) and the United Nations Population Fund (UNFPA).

According to him, there is urgent need for a comprehensive census to accurately determine Nigeria’s population size, unemployment figures, population distribution, and other critical demographic data and lamented the current reliance on speculative figures.

He said: “National planning and development would be much easier with reliable census data. Today, nobody knows the actual population of Nigeria. We are just using estimates.

Some people say we are 200 million, others say 220 million, while some say we are about 230 million. These are just projections and that is why there is no alternative to having a national census.”

He said that the National Assembly is irrevocably committed to ensure that a Population and Housing Census is conducted soon.

He also cautioned against any legislative attempt to impose a limit on the number of children Nigerian couples can have.

"It is very difficult to regulate or control birth by law. Instead there is need to advocate for improved sex education among adolescent girls as a more effective means of managing the birth rate", the Senator said.