NEWS
We Spent N200bn For Suspended Census Preparation
The National Population Commission (NPC) announced on Friday that N200 billion was spent over the course of eight years to get ready for the 2023 national census, which has been put on hold.
As the administration of the recently-departed president, Muhammadu Buhari, came to a close, the exercise was suspended.
At a press conference on Friday in Abuja, the NPC’s director of public relations, Isiaka Yahaya, gave this information to the media.
But he refuted the assertion that the funds had just recently been used, insisting that the commission had been planning for the census since 2014. The previous census took place in 2006.
“Yes, it is true that N200 billion has been spent on preparations for the 2023 census so far. However, this fund was not expended in the last few weeks, months or years, but rather since 2014, when preparations for the 2023 census actually began,” he said.
“Indeed, part of the N200 billion was expended before the coming of the present commission, which was inaugurated twice between 2018 and 2020 and even before the inception of the Buhari Administration.”
Yahaya said the huge sum was spent on different preparatory processes to ensure the exercise came out with credible and acceptable data.
He stated that chief among the projects that consumed the money was the demarcation of the country into enumeration areas for easy clustering, which provided data on the number of houses in the country.
“The first preparatory activity for the 2023 Population and Housing Census was the Enumeration Area Demarcation (EAD), which the Commission implemented in phases on an incremental basis spanning over a period of eight years,” Isiaka said.
‘The EAD involved the division of the 774 Local Government Areas of the country into Enumeration Areas. The Enumeration Area Demarcation was done digitally from 2014 to 2022. Given the size of Nigeria, carrying out such expansive field operations must of necessity come with a huge cost.
“Major cost elements in the EAD project include the acquisition of high-resolution satellite imageries of entire land space of Nigeria and equipment, deployment of logistics across the country and training and deployment of tens of thousands of ad-hoc workers for several months to carry out the field operations. All of these were paid for, and heavily too.”
It is the view of the pro-democracy and civil rights advocacy group, the Human rights Writers Association of Nigeria (HURIWA) that the apex court has been presented with an opportunity to redeem the waning public image of the Nigerian judiciary by the emergency rule declared in Rivers State.
Biztellers reports that the matter challenging President Bola Ahmed Tinubu’s proclamation of a state of emergency and the suspension of a sitting Governor of Rivers State, Siminilayi Fubara was instituted by some Nigerian governors.
The HURIWA, in a statement in Abuja on Wednesday by its National Coordinator, Comrade Emmanuel Onwubiko, noted that the Nigerian judiciary has never witnessed the kind of downturn, loss of public confidence and trust in the integrity to such a terrible extent that over 98 percent of Nigerians believed that President Tinubu has effectively pocketed the judiciary given that he was instrumental to the phenomenal rise of the current chief justice of Nigeria who was the justice that pronounced the then APC governorship candidate Hope Uzodimma who came 4th in the Imo State election as the winner thereby displacing the governor Emeka Ihedioha.
Ihedioha was elected on the platform of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP).
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According to Onwubiko, besides, the Supreme Court’s recent highly biased and openly partisan judgment read by Justice Emmanuel Agim lambasting Governor Fubara and stopping the Central Bank of Nigeria from remitting the rightful allocations from the Federation Account to the coffers of the Rivers State government – a politically motivated ruling that led to the destabilisation of democratic structures of Rivers State including the unconstitutional suspension of Governor Fubara by President Tinubu.
The Rights group added that the inability of the Supreme Court to sanction Justice Emmanuel Agim for openly fraternising with the FCT Minister, Nyesom Wike at the recently held convocation ceremony of the University of Calabar shows the complicity and compromise with the executive arm of government by the Nigerian judiciary whose hierarchy is domiciled in the Supreme Court.
The HURIWA, therefore, affirmed that the time has now come for the world to see whether or not it is factually accurate the conspiracy theory that President Tinubu has the Nigerian judiciary in his pockets just as the Rights group said the decision by the Supreme Court of Nigeria in this matter brought by 11 governors of the PDP with a specific request for interpretation of the Constitution to ascertain if an elected president with same constitutional ways of impeachment just like the elected governor of the states, has the powers to unseat or unilaterally suspend a sitting governor like it was done to Gov Fubara.
Onwubiko maintained that the verdict on this case would be a verdict on the integrity of the Supreme Court of Nigeria and would be the last stroll that would break the camel’s back in terms of trusting the judiciary.
The HURIWA noted that the governors, in the suit marked: SC/CV/329/2025, predicated the summons on eight grounds.
The plaintiffs in the suit are Adamawa, Enugu, Osun, Oyo, Bauchi, Akwa Ibom, Plateau, Delta, Taraba, Zamfara, and Bayelsa States.
The plaintiffs urged the Supreme Court to determine if the President had the power to suspend a democratically elected structure of a state.
They also asked the apex court to determine if the way and manner the President pronounced the state of emergency declaration in Rivers State was not in contravention of the 1999 Constitution.
Amongst others, all 11 governors in the suit, filed through the states’ Attorney Generals, prayed the court to determine the following, “Whether upon a proper construction and interpretation of the provisions of Sections 1(2), 5(2), 176, 180, 188 and 305 of the Constitution of the Federal Republic of Nigeria 1999, the President of the Federal Republic of Nigeria can lawfully suspend or in any manner whatsoever interfere with the offices of a Governor and the Deputy Governor of any of the component 36 States of the Federation of Nigeria and replace same with his own unelected nominee as a Sole Administrator, under the guise of, or pursuant to, a Proclamation of a State of Emergency in any of the State of the Federation, particularly in any of the Plaintiffs States?
The HURIWA expressed belief that there is no provision of the extant Grund Norm that authorises the sitting President to suspend a sitting governor, and therefore reminded the Chief Justice of Nigeria, Kekere-Ekun that Nigerians will judge the Supreme Court and the judiciary by the kind of pronouncement the Supreme Court eventually makes in the aforesaid matter, especially with regards to the decision of the president to suspend a sitting governor.
“The judgment in this matter will determine whether Nigerians will support constitutional democracy or conclude that the judiciary has endorsed totalitarianism and dictatorship,” it added.
The Zamfara State House of Assembly is in mourning following the sudden death of Hon. Aminu Ibrahim Kasuwar-Daji, who represented the Kaura Namoda South Constituency.
The lawmaker passed away in his sleep on Wednesday morning.
In an official statement, the All Progressives Congress (APC) in Zamfara expressed deep sorrow over the lossloss.
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Yusuf Idris, the party’s Publicity Secretary, described the late lawmaker as “a dedicated, honest, and God-fearing individual who served both his constituency and humanity with passion.”
The APC extended its condolences to the family of the deceased, the people of Kaura Namoda South, and members of the Zamfara State Assembly.
The statement concluded with prayers for the deceased, asking Allah to grant him Jannatul Firdaus and provide his loved ones with the strength to bear the loss.
Hon. Kasuwar-Daji will be laid to rest today at 3:00 pm in his hometown of Kasuwar-Daji, Kaura Namoda Local Government Area.
In a bold move to redefine its national identity and sever ties with its colonial past, Niger’s ruling junta has officially adopted Hausa as the country’s national language, replacing French.
A new national charter, published in a special edition of the government’s official journal on March 31, stated: “The national language is Hausa” and “the working languages are English and French.”
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The decision is part of sweeping reforms introduced by the military government that took power in July 2023 after ousting President Mohamed Bazoum. Since then, the junta has taken deliberate steps to distance itself from France, including the expulsion of French troops and the renaming of streets and landmarks that bore French names.
Hausa is the most widely spoken language in Niger, particularly in the regions of Zinder, Maradi, and Tahoua. By contrast, French is spoken by only about 13 percent of the population—just over three million people in a country of 26 million.
The charter also designates nine other local languages—Zarma-Songhay, Fula, Kanuri, Gourmanche, Arabic and others—as the “spoken languages of Niger.”
The reforms stemmed from a national conference held in February, during which the junta was granted broader powers, including a five-year extension for General Abdourahamane Tiani to remain as head of state.
Niger, along with Mali and Burkina Faso—also under military rule—recently withdrew from the Organisation Internationale de la Francophonie (OIF), a cultural and political body representing French-speaking countries.
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