The Federal Government has said it will need the sum of N869 billion to carry out the 2023 population and housing census.
Minister of State for Budget and National Planning, Clement Agba, announced on Monday that a total of N869 billion ($1.88 billion) would be required for the census, including post-census activities. According to him, N626 billion ($1.36 billion) would be used for census ($6 per capita), with N243 billion ($527 million) earmarked for post-census activities up to 2025.
Agba noted that the Federal Government had committed N291.5 billion ($632 million) already, representing 46 percent of the total funding required for the exercise and was now seeking donations for the remaining N791 billion with less than a month to the enumeration scheduled to take place across the 774 local government areas of the country between March 29 and April 2.
There are doubts, however, that this will take place between these dates, given the postponement of the governorship elections from March 11 to March 18.
What N869 billion budget for census can do
The N869 billion needed to perform the census has a significant potential to project socioeconomic prospects for the nation, consequently raising the human capital index of the nation.
Going by the 2023 approved budget estimates of the Universal Basic Education Commission (UBEC), the average cost for the construction of a two block of three classrooms is N50 million.
A Basic Education Profile of National & Regional Statistics from the UBEC reveals that there are 73,179 number of schools: primary (61,305) and junior secondary(11,874) in Nigeria. Enrolment data also from the UBEC state that there about 24 million students at the primary school level and 4.2 million at the junior secondary schoool level.
With the spate of dilapidated and uncompleted classrooms in public schools littered across the country, the government can spend N389 billion to build two blocks of three classrooms at the average rate of N50 million each for more than 19,000 public schools in the country.
The health of a country is a significant factor in determining how well its human capital is developed. The poor condition of primary healthcare centers (PHCs) across the nation has been accentuated by numerous reports. Over the years, tens of billions of naira have been spent on the construction and equipment of PHCs in order to guarantee universal health coverage for the country. Yet, many Nigerians are denied access to basic healthcare, which makes them multidimensionally poor. The PHCs are the most accessible to common people.
In the approved 2023 budget details of the National Primary Health Care Development Agency (NPHCDA), the average cost of renovating and equipping a PHC is N7.5 million each.
Dataphyte could not get the number of PHCs in the country from the website of the NPHCDA, the government agency charged with the responsibility of making PHC services available to all in Nigeria. However, an article published by the United States National Center for Biotechnology Information (NCBI) pegged the number of PHCs in Nigeria at 30,000. This would mean that about N450 billion will renovate and equip all PHCs across the country at N15 million each.
Holding census in election year raises questions
An SME and resource development advisor, Ronke Onadeko, claimed that conducting a census while conditions hadn’t yet stabilised following the recent elections would raise more questions than answers among the populace. “What precisely are they attempting to accomplish?” “How much was budgeted and how much has been released?” she querried.
Onadeko noted that because the Federal Government was looking for donations, Nigerians might not believe the population counting results as it might be compromised.
“Census is an issue of national importance and the Federal Government is supposed to provide funds for the exercise,” she noted. She further said the figures might be compromised if donations were received from interested parties.
According to checks on the National Population Commission (NPC)’s approved budget for 2023, the line item “NATIONAL POPULATION AND HOUSING CENSUS” has a N10.52 million budget and is listed as an ongoing project.
However, a review at the commission’s previous year’s budget reveals that no funding had previously been set out for the exercise.
According to an economist at PWC, Seyi Kolawole, if there was another lockdown or people stayed at home due to the census, there would be an negative impact on the level of national productivity.
“Can Nigeria afford another lockdown that would exacerbate the decline in the nation’s productivity in light of economic shocks? The country is already experiencing so much from the cash crunch, fuel scarcity and the uncertainty the election has brought. Can it stand another lockdown?” he asked.
Census are important but data is rocket science
Economists believe that census enables the government to plan and allocate resources in the society efficiently. According to the Central Statistics Office in Ireland, census gave a comprehensive picture of the social and living conditions of a people.
“Only a census can provide such complete detail. The census is not, however, an end in itself! Rather the results are essential tools for effective policy, planning and decision making purpose,” it added.
Census are important, especially for a country like Nigeria with enormous inequality ansd trust deficit. However, spending N869 billion on census raises a number of issues about data gathering agencies in Nigeria.
Nigeria currently has the National Identification Number (NIN), Bank Verification Number (BVN) and voter registration schenes. The country also has birth and death registrations, but none of these is efficiently deployed to determine the country’s population.
“The National Identity Management Agency handles NIN. Banks mandated everybody to have BVN. INEC has a list of all voters 18 and above. Why are we planning to spend this humongous sum when we can easily get the data we are seeking by synchronising all these data? Secondly, with a debt profile of over N77 trillion, do we not know that we are in a precarious fiscal situation? It does not matter whether the money will be borrowed or donated; what matters is that every penny should be properly used. This is another waste of resources,” said Ike Ibe, an economic commentator and CEO of MD Services Limited.
“Is there any mechanism of even monitoring how the money will be spent?” he asked.