The minister for culture and information, Lai Mohammed, has announced that Nigeria will now hold its first census in May this year instead of March that it was formerly scheduled to take place.
Briefing journalists in Abuja, Wednesday, the minister said the shift in date was due to the postponement in elections for new governors from March 11 to 18. The delay, according to Mohammed will give the organisers a little more time to get their acts together.
The head count will be one in 17 years since the last one. According to the minister, this census is aimed at updating the exact population and the size of the different ethnic groups.
Mohammed did not say when in May the census would be held.
Nigeria’s population is estimated at more than 200 million and the United Nations expects that figure to double by 2050. That would make Nigeria the world’s third most populous country, behind China and India, overtaking the United States.
Census figures in Nigeria affect the sharing of oil revenues and political representation among the 36 states and 300 ethnic groups. Previous counts were discredited after disputes among the three main ethnic groups, the Hausa, Yoruba and Igbo.