Governor Aminu Masari has described census in Nigeria as politics of numbers and called on traditional rulers in Katsina to support the 2023 population and housing census.

The governor made the call on Thursday in Katsina during a one-day stakeholders’ summit on the proposed 2023 population and housing census.

He pointed out that since 1963, the census in Nigeria has been politicised. 

“All our censuses are being bedevilled by politics of numbers, not (the) quality of numbers. We hope this time, with technology, we will be able to achieve near perfection in terms of knowing how many we are in this country,” lamented Mr Masari. “The tragedy of what we have done in reducing the issues of census could rarely fall on it in terms of resources and allocation.”

According to him, it is the responsibility of traditional rulers to ensure that their subjects give the exact number of their family members without inflating it.

Mr Masari explained that it was only by providing the exact number of family members that the accurate population of the state could be realised for planning.

The Katsina governor further stated, “Political offices have eroded the main objective of knowing how many we are. Therefore, I urge the commission to address the quality of numbers, not (the) politics of numbers.”

The NPC federal commissioner in Katsina, Bala Almu-Banye, said the scheduled census exercise was designed to provide the needed demographic data.

“In line with the UN principles and recommendations, the 2023 census will be fully digitised and the commission has deployed technology to conduct the exercise and enhance data quality,” Mr Almu-Banye explained.

He also noted that in the forthcoming 2023 census, “everyone will be counted in the right way, at the right place and time and for the benefit of all persons resident in Nigeria.”

(NAN)