Nigeria’s estimated population now 206 million, says NPC

• Commission to conduct national census 2021

Nigeria’s current estimated population is 206 million, Chairman of the National Population Commission, Nasir Kwarra, has said.

He stated this on Tuesday at a press briefing, just as he disclosed plans were underway to conduct the long-overdue census next year and conclude it in 2022.

Before now, Nigeria had relied on the estimate provided by the United Nations, which put the nation’s population at 200 million.

But in the latest figures, the UN has adjusted the estimate to 206,139,589, adding that Nigeria population is equivalent to 2.64 per cent of the total world population.

Kwarra said Nigeria had in the last 14 years been unable to hold a national census, stressing that it was not an aberration to make projections.

“In the absence of an actual census, we formally make projections, and we have all along been making our projections, and we estimate that as of 2020, the estimated population of Nigeria is 206 million.”

Meanwhile, the commission has announced the commencement of the 11th phase of Enumeration Area Demarcation (EAD).

Kwarra said about 260 local government areas out of the 774 LGs in the country had been fully demarcated.

He stated that the 11th phase of the exercise would begin on December 9, 2020, and end on January 20, 2021.

“The train the trainers and other technical officers for the EAD has just been completed in Akwanga, Nasarawa State while the states’ training for demarcators will kick off nationwide on December 9, 2020.

“Planning for the census is anchored on the EAD as the basis for estimating both the human and material resources required for the census. In essence, the success of a credible and accurate census depends very much on the quality and reliability of the EAD.”