National Population Commission (NPC) on Wednesday advocated for the promulgation of law making conduct of census compulsory every 10 years in Nigeria.

Mr Nduka Arinzechi, Acting Director, Population Management, said this in an interview with News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) in Abuja.

Arinzechi explained that the law would override Presidential proclamation which had been the practice.
He said that the law would make conduct of census constitutionally mandatory just like general elections.

“We had our last census 14 years ago; at the moment, we in the population commission are ready for census but we are waiting for the president’s proclamation,” Arinzechi said.

The Director, who said that there would be international conference on census by April, called for support of Nigerians.

He expressed optimism on the capability of the conference to yield results through the international interactions and ideas on census.

Arinzechi emphasised the imperatives of census which according to him are paramount for national planning as well as citizens’ profiling.

According to him, our census is long overdue; therefore, it has affected almost all sectors of system thereby slowing national planning.