President Bola Tinubu said that he would soon set up a committee.
The move, as reported, is to align the census budget to the current financial realities of government.
The President announced this on Monday at a meeting with officials of the National Population Commission (NPC) at the State House, Abuja.
Mr Nasir Kwarra, the Chairman of NPC and other members, were at the State House to brief the president on progress made so far on the exercise.
The President said that the National Identity Management Commission(NIMC) must be part of the review and that the nation last held a census in November 2006.
“We must ascertain who we are, how many we are, and how to manage our data.
“Without an accurate census, we can’t successfully plan for employment, agriculture, and food sovereignty. So many problems come up without accurate data,” President Tinubu said.
He reiterated his commitment to ensuring accurate and reliable figures from the national census to strengthen development planning and improve Nigerians’ living conditions through more efficient social security.
Tinubu noted that government incentives, such as the sale and distribution of fertilisers, could be easily improved upon with more reliable data and demographics.
The President told the delegation that biometric capturing should be central to the process, with multiple identification features, including facial and voice recognition.
“We should work on our financial muscle well in place to lift our burden before we go and meet development partners for the census. We should work out the figures before discussing the role of development partners.
“This stop-and-go activity on the census cannot work with me. So, we better have a definite path.
“I will set up a committee for you to look at the issues critically and do a source and application of resources. Where can we get help, and what can we lift before we embark on proclamation?” the President asked.
Sen. Abubakar Bagudu, the Minister of Budget and Economic Planning, said the census data would be central to future planning and resource distribution.
“At a retreat for the ministers in 2023, Mr President, you reiterated your commitment to the census, so there is no doubt about your desire and commitment to have the census.
“In fact, at the last Federal Executive Council meeting, you asked me what the problem was, and I told you it was simply an issue of lack of ability to fund the census.
“The NPC indicated that 40 per cent of the funding for the 2006 census came from development partners,” Bagudu stated.
Bagudu noted that the enumeration done by NPC so far had been helpful.
“Mr President, we have been having ecosystem meetings to link the identity agencies, even the geo-spatial chaired by the ministry, because of our mandate as the supervising ministry of the National Bureau of Statistics (NBS),” said the minister.
The NPC chairman said the last census took place in 2006, and 19 years later, the figures were no longer relevant in planning, particularly for key sectors that directly impacted the population.
He said 760,000 tablets had been acquired and stored with the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN), assuring the commission would engage with development partners to seek support whenever President Tinubu directed that the census should be consummated.
