Just in: FG postpones national census to May

The Federal Government has postponed the population and housing census from March 29 to May this year.

Minister of Information and Culture, Lai Mohammed, announced this on Wednesday at the end of the federal executive council (FEC) meeting.

The meeting was presided over by President Muhammadu Buhari in Abuja.

The minister told State House correspondents that the decision was necessitated by the rescheduling of the governorship election to March 18.

He also said the council had approved the sum of N2.8 billion for the National Population Commission (NPC) to procure software for the conduct of the census.

“There was a memo presented by the National Population Commission, seeking some software to allow them to conduct the census in May this year. I believe because of the rescheduling of the elections, they cannot commence the census as scheduled,” the minister said.

“They sought Council’s approval for a contract to procure software for the census at the sum of N2.8 billion.”