The Chairman, Senate Committee on National Identity and Population, Senator Victor Umeh OFR, has stressed the need for the Federal Government to urgently conduct the.National Population and Housing Census.
Sen. Victor Umeh who stated this in Abuja during the launch of the 2025 State of the World Population Report, noted that without national census, Nigeria will continue to grope in the dark in planning and development.
Umeh who is also the Senator representing Anambra Central Senatorial District, described as imperative, the conduct of national census, as this would enable the government to know the exact number of Nigeria’s population, the number of the unemployed, population distribution, among others.
According to the Senator, national planning and development would be easier with national census.
He said, “Today, nobody knows the actual population of Nigeria. We are just using estimates. Some people say we are 200 million people, others say we are 220 million people, while some others say, we are about 230 people.
“These are projections. And that is why there is no alternative to having a national census.”
He pledged that the National Assembly was irrevocably committed to ensuring that Population and Housing Census is conducted soon.
He called on the members of the National Assembly to resist the urge to legislate the number of children each Nigerian couple should give birth to.
Speaking on the State of the World Population, Umeh explained that it is very difficult to control birth, adding that emphasis should be given to sex education among the adolescent girls to control birth rate.
